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RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE OLIVE BRAKCH. 

Extract of a letter from James JMadi son, Esq. President of the United States, 

Washington, January 28, 1815. 

" I have not been able as yet to do more than glance at the plan of the work, 
and run over a few of its pages. The course adopted of assembling authentic 
and striking facts, and addressing them impartially and independently, but with 
becoming emphasis, to the attention of the public, was best fitted to render it 
a valuable and seasonable service : and it appears that the success of your la- 
boui-s will well reward the laudable views with which it was undertaken." 



Extract of a letter from Thomas Jefferson, Esq. ex-president of the United States. 

Monticello, Feb, 9, 1815. 
" I thank you for the copy of the Olive Branch you have been so kind as to 
send me. Many extracts froiu it which I had seen in the newspapers, had ex- 
cited a wish to procure it. A cursory view over the work has confirmed the 
opinion excited by the extracts, that it will do great good." 

Extract of a letter from TV. Sampson, Esq. 

New York, Feb. 15, 1815. 
" I have read your Olive Branch ; and I can now express my sincere satisfac- 
tion. I must offer you my best compliments upon a production, which breathes 
the sentiments of pure and manly patriotism." 

Extract of a letter from Orchard Cook, Esq. 

Wiscasset, Me, April 2, 1815. 
" Permit me to offer you my thanks for j^our incomparable work, the Olive 
Branch. You can hardly imagine how much it is admired, and how much good 

it is doing." 

Extract of a letter from A". Biddle, Esq. a member of the Senate of Pennsylvania, a 

decided Federalist. 
" Mr. Biddle takes this opportunity of expressing to Mr. Carey the satisfac- 
tion which he has derived from reading his manly appeal from the passions to 
the reason of contending parties." Dec. 2, 1814. 

Extract of a letter from the Hon. Wm. Eustis, Esq. noiv minister of the United 

States, in Holland. 

Boston, Nov. 16, 1814. 
" The Olive Branch is certainly calculated to do great good. It bears, a3 
you observe, the marks of rapidity : — but it is the rapid, rectilineal course of 
an enhghtened mind, directed by strong common sense." 

Extract of a letter from a literary Gentleman in Baltimore. 

Nov. 20, 1814. 
" Accept my sincere and hearty thanks for the Olive Branch. So far as my 
opinion goes, it is the best timed and most masterly performance I ever saw." 



Extract of a letter from Richard Rush, Esq. now J\Tinistcr Pleidpotentiary of the 
United Stales at the Court of St. James's. 

' Washington, April 28, 1815. 
" R. R. has been fi-ee to declare upon all occasions, aiid the sentiment is now 
still further strengthened, that he thinks the country owes Mr. C a very large 
debt for the patriotic, the zealous, and the intelligent efforts of liis pen during 
the late strug-gle ; for his energetic, spii'ited, yet candid defence of public prin- 
ciples and public measures; for his just exposition of our institutions; for his 
discriminating and indefatigable selection of authentic documents illustrative of 
our history, and the forcible, perspicuous, and unanswerable commentai-ies 
which he has superinduced upon them. R. R. places, at a very high rate, the 
.share which Mr. Carey's publications have had in serving to rescue us from dan- 
ger, and to secure our triumphs ; and he anticipates in the mass of truth which 
they have diffused throughout the Union, effects from them of further and 
more lasting benefit." 

" There is perhaps no book extant, that in so small a compass contains so 
great a quantity of momentous political truth. Like the two-edged sword, said 
to have been wielded by the angel of light against " Satan and his angels," it 
dispels and puts to flight an army of error and falsehood."— ?feeA^/«/ Re^ster, 
vol. vii. page 371. 
A 



RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE OUVE BRANCH. 

Extract of a letter from Phillip Freneau, Esq. 

Mount Pleasant, October 30, 1815. 
« Your Olive Branch has excited much attention, wherever people will at all 
read. According to an old saying, it is worth its weight in gold ; and .since 
the pubUcation ofThomas Paine's Common Sense, I know nothing that has is- 
sued from the American press, of equal solid utility." 

Extract of a letter from James J. Wilson, Esq. Member of the United States' Senate. 
•' Trenton, June 21, 1815. 

" I consider your work not only as a gi-eat present acquisition, but as likely 
to produce good effects for a long time to come." 

Extract of a letter from Benjamin Austin, Esq. 

•' Boston, Oct. 24, 1815. 

" T consider the Olive Branch as the most lucid pubUcation that has appear- 
ed since the violence of party has plunged the pubhc mind into a chaos of po- 

litical eiTor." 

^ 

Extract of a letter from the author of the British Spy. 

Richmond, Nov. 1, 1815. 
" I consider the Olive Branch as valuable in a higli degree, and all that I 
have heard speak of it in this quarter, express themselves in the warmest 
terms of approbation." 

Extract of a letter from Jesse Moore, Esq. Presiding Judge of the B. C. Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Meadville, September 29, 1815. 
• « I have no hesitation in saying that by writing and publishing the OliVe 
-Branch, yo^i have been a benefactor to the public ; and that in this opinion, 
after the present mists of party spirit sliall have evaporated, a very great pro- 
portion of the candid, honest, and intelligent men of every pai-ty will at length 

concur." 

Extract of a letter from Dr. James Tilton. 

Wilmington, Oct. 10, 1815. 
*' All that I hear of the Olive Branch, indicates that it passes with the same 
eclat among the people that Common Sense did in the Revolution." 

From " Liberty Hall," a Cincinatii JVe-uispaper. 
« The Olive Branch, published by M. Carey, of Philadelphia, has perhaps 
been tbe most popular and useful publication ever printed in America. It will 
hereafter be a matter of record of the most important transactions and docu- 
ments resulting from the war, and the causes that led to it." 

Extract from the Western Herald, Jidy 1815. 
" The Author of the Olive Branch deserves the thanks and gratitude of the 
nation. We have no hesitation in saviug that every man who can afford to buy 
a single book more tlian the Holy Scriptures, ought to buy the Olive Branch." 

Extract of a letter from Jonathan Roberts, Esq member of the Senate of the United 

States. 
« Your labours have contributed more than those of any other person, to re- 
move the mists of prciudice and misrepresentation. You have not only la- 
boured successfully to "present a clear view of the conduct of both sides— but 
you have promulgated your writings with such diligence and success as to dou- 
ble your merits." 

iMter from Mahlon Dickerson, Esq. late Governor of the state of Xe^v Jersey. 

" Trenton, Dec. 5, 1817. 

" T will thank vou to .set me down as a subscriber to your eighth edition of 
the Olive Tiranch. I have but two editions of that work— but should have had 
all, could I have procured them immediately on their first coming out. 

" Be assured no man thinks more highly of this work than 1 do. It is so com- 
pletely and peculiarly yours, thai I should have discovered the author on read- 
ing four pages. Indeed, while reading it, I think I hear your voice, and see 
your manner." 



THE 

OLIYE BRANCH: 

OR, 

FAULTS ON BOTH SIDES, 

FEDERAL AXD DEMOCRATIC. 

A SERIOUS APPEAL ON THE NECESSITY 

OF 

MUTUAL FORGIVENESS AND HARMONY. 



BY MfCAREY. 



TENTH EDITION, IMPROVED. 



" Paction is the madness of the many for the benefit of the few." 

" Frenzied be the head — palsied be the hand — that attempts to destroy thf" 
union." Gen. Eaton 

" Truths would you teach — or save a sinking land : 
" All fear — none aid you — and few understand." Pope. 

" Every kingdom divided against itself, is brought to DESOLATION." 

Matt xii. 2,1 

" In dissensione nulla salus co7isJjicitur." Cxsar. 

" If we pay a proper regard to truth, we shall find it necessary not only to 
condemn our friends upon some occasions, and commend our enemies, but also 
to commend and condemn the same persons, as different circumstances may re- 
quire ; for as it is not to be imagined, that those who are engaged in great af- 
fairs, should always be pursuing false or mistaken measures ; so neither is it 
probable that their condcut can be at all times exempt from eiTOr." Polybivf. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY M. CAREY AND SON 

JVo. 126, Chesnnt Street. 



June 1, 1818. 



e 






V 



Extract from Governor Strangle Speech, 17th January, 1806. 

" Changes in the constitution ol government are more injurious than in the 
Sj-stcm of laws : even a sSnall innovation maij deatroy its pri?ici plea. The tramers 
of the constitution had before ihem not only the forms which had been prefer- 
red by tlie several states ; but those also, which, before that time, hatl been de- 
vised in other ages and nations. And Ihougli the repeated experiments which 
have since talcen place in Europe, may suggest matter for warning, they atiord 
nothing for imitation. If, notwithstanding, it is found by experience, that the 
consutution ojicrates very unequally, or the construction of any partis doubt- 
ful, amendments may be necessary to alter or explain it. But it is in vain to 
expect tliut all ivill Oe satisfied. — Free governments admit of an endless variety of 
modifications; When the constitution was estabhshed, perhaps no man that 
became subject to it was perfectly pleased with every part. Jt was the result 
of mutual concession : and such, indeed, must always be the case, when a form 
of govcrmnent is voluntarily accepted by a community. 

" In the minds of some men, there seems to be a restlessness, ivMch renders them 
dissatisfied with any uniform course of things, and makes them eager in the pursuit 
of novelty. They abound in projects, and are ever meditating some fanciful clumge 
in the plan of government, which their imaginations represent as useful. But men 
of great ambition are still more dangerous ; they commonly make the fairest pretences 
to principles, though Ihey are actuated only by self-interest. If the constitution or 
laws of their country present obstacles to the accomplishment of their -wishes, they 
employ every artifce to alter or abolish them ; and if individuals oppose their at- 
tempts, they are equally artfid and solicitous to destroy their influence and re^ider 
them odious to their fellow citizens. 

" b'ew men, even in a prosperous community, are fully satisfied with their 
condition. A great part are easily induced to believe, tliat there is something 
wrong in the government or laws, which might be rectified to their advantage. 
They therefore readily embrace any specious proposal to effect an alteration. 
The crafty and ambitious knoiu hoiu to avail tliemselves of this disposition to change, 
and encourage their followers to expect that the amendments they propose will per- 
fectly suit their case, and produce the very blessings they wish : in this way they 
not only eii'cct tlieir immediate object, but acquire an influence which enables 
them afterwards to accomplish the most disastrous innovations. Sucli persons 
encourage hopes that can 7iever be realized, and excite complaints which tlie 
most wise and benevolent administration is unable to remove. 

" Our forms of government are, doubtless, like all other human institutions, 
impert'ect ; but they will insure the blessings of freedom to the citizens, and 
preserve their ti'anepiillity, as long as they are virtuous ; and no constitution 
that has been or can be formed will secui'e those blessings to a depraved and 
vicious people." 

Extract from the Answer of the Massachusetts Senate to the above Speech. 

" We shall look with a still more cautious eye upon every innovation attempt- 
ed to be made upon our national constitution. The integrity, experience, and 
extensive information discovered by the illustrious characters, who framed that 
valuable instrument, and the series of public prospei'ity enjoyed under it, enti- 
tle it to our higiicst veneration; its excellence appears witli still greater lustre, 
when compared with the ephemeral constitutions of many nations which have 
flitted across the eye in rajiid succession, and then sunk into total oblivion. 
We are not insensible, tliat our form of government must be imperfect, as was 
the nature of its autliors : but we recollect, at the same time, that any proposed 
alteration, under the mime of amendment, is liable to the same imperfections. 

" Believing, therefore, that the princ'plvs fthe constitution are as well adjusted 
as human infi-mity will permit, and that a ^'rall innovation may essentially peiTert 
its original tendency, we shall exert ourselves to preserve it in its pi'esent form, 
except in cases where its operation shall be foiuid extremely unequal and op- 
pressive." 






-i' 



I THIS BOOK, 






(AS A MARK OF GRATITUDE FOR 

INESTIMABLE BLESSINGS ENJOYED, IN 

LIBERTY OF PERSON, LIBERTY OF PROPERTY, AND LIBERTY 

OF OPINIONS, 

TO A DEGREE NEVER EXCEEDED IN THE WORLD,) 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

TO A BELOVED BUT BLEEDING COUNTRY, 

TORN IN PIECES 

BY 

FACTIOUS, DESPERATE, CON\^ULSIVE, AND RUINOUS 
STRUGGLES FOR POWER. 



IT IS LIKEWISE DEDICATED TO THOSE 

MILLIONS OF HUMAN BEINGS, 

WHO NEITHER HOLD NOR SEEK OFFICE ; 

BUT WHO ARE MADE THE INSTRUMENTS OF THOSE 

WHO DO SEEK THEM : 

AND WHO, WHILE A FOREIGN ENEMY PRESSES 

AT THEIR DOORS, 

ARE ENFEEBLED AND KEPT FROM UNION, 

TO GRATIFY THE AMBITION OF 

A FEW MEN, 

(NOT ONE IN FIVE THOUSAND OF THE WHOLE COMMUNITY) 

WHO HAVE BROUGHT 

TO THE VERY VERGE OF DESTRUCTION, 

THE FAIREST PROSPECT 

EVER VOUCHSAFED BY HEAVEN TO ANY NATION. 

BY THE .iUTHOR. 
Philad. J^ov. 8, 1814. 

O, B. 2 



GO, OLITE BRANCH, 

INTO A COMMUNITY, WHICH, DRUGGED INTO 
A DEATH-LIKE STUPOR, 
WITH UNPARALLELED APATHY BEHOLDS 
THE 
PILLARS OF THE GOVERNMENT TEARING AWAY-. 
THE NATION 
NEARLY PROSTRATE AT THE FEET OF A RUTHLESS FOE , 
ANARCHY RAPIDLY APPROACHING; 
A NUMBER OF AMBITIOUS LEADERS, REGARDLESS 

OF THE 
COMMON DANGER, 
STRUGGLING TO SEIZE UPON THE GOVERNMENT, 

AND 
- APPARENTLY DETERMINED THE COUNTRY SHALL GO TO 

PERDITION, 

UNLESS THEY CAN POSSESS THEMSELVES OF POWER , 

AND, WITH THIS VIEW, OPPOSING AND DEFEATING 

EVERY MEASURE, 

CALCULATED TO INSURE SALVATION 

APPEAL TO THE PATRIOTISM, 
THE HONOUR, THE FEELING, THE SELF-INTEREST OF YOUR 

READERS, 
TO SAVE A NOBLE NATION FROM RUIN, 
Fftilad. Jan. 4, 18l5. 



PREFACE 

TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



Philadelphia^ Nov. 8, 1814.* 

This work is submitted to the public with an uncommon de- 
gree of solicitude and anxiety. The subject it embraces, and the 
objects it has in view, are of inexpressible magnitude. The for- 
mer is the present critical situation of the United States, with 
the causes that have led to that situation ; the latter, the mitiga- 
tion of party rage and rancour, and the restoration of harmony. 

It is no longer doubtful that a conspiracy exists in New Eng- 
land, among a few of the most wealthy and influential citizens, 
to effect a dissolution of the union, at every hazard, and to form 
a separate confederacy. This has been believed by some of our 
citizens for years, and strenuously denied \)y others, deceived by 
the mask the conspirators wore, and by their hollow professions. 
But it requires more than Bceotian stupidity and dulness, to he- 
sitate on the subject, after the late extraordinary proceedings, 
which cannot possibly have any other object. 

Eighteen years have elapsed since this dangerous project was 
first promulgated-! From that period to the present, it has never 
been out of view. The end and the means were equally unholy 
and pernicious. Falsehood, deception, and calumny, in turn, 
have been employed to aid the design. The passions of the ci- 
tizens have been kept in a constant state of the most extravagant 
excitement. Every act of the government has been placed in 
the most revolting point of view. And to the public function- 
aries have been unceasingly ascribed the most odious objects, 
pursued by the most detestable means. 

About two-thirds of the papers published in the eastern states, 
are opposed to the present administration. They are all ex-parte. 
A single number of the Centinel, Repertory, Boston Gazette, 
He. rarely appears free from abuse of the administration. And 
I am pretty well convinced that attempts at vindication are 
hardly ever admitted. The object steadily and invariably pur- 

* The reader is requested, in reading the different Prefaces, to pay particu- 
lar attention to their dates. 

f In a series of essays, published under the signature of Pelham,in the Con> 
necticut Courant, 1796. 



10 PRErACK TO THE ITRST LDITIOK. 

sued, is to run down the incumbents in office at all events. To 
this ooject every thing is made subservient, and every means of 
effecting it is regarded as lawful. 

On the injustice, the cruelty of this procedure, it is needless 
to descant. It is treating the highest public functionaries of the 
country, chosen by the unbiassed suffrages of a free people, with 
more cruelty and injustice than we should display towards the 
veriest rascal in society. Were he accused of any crime what- 
ever, his defence would be patiently heard before sentence would 
be pronounced. But our first magistrate, and other public offi- 
cers, are accused, tried, and condemned, without a possibility of 
defence. 

This is a great and deplorable evil — an evil so inveterate, as 
to render a remedy almost hopeless. It is hardly possible for any 
government to stand against such an unjust system, which is 
pregnant with the most awful consequences to society. 

It will be said that there are many newspapers devoted to the 
defence of the administration, as well as to destroy it. This 
does not remove the difficulty. Such are the folly and madness 
of the times, that the mass of our citizens confine themselves to 
those papers calculated to strengthen their prejudices. They 
rarely read defences, if any appear. 

And thus it is not surprising that those prejudices daily be- 
come more violent, and more extensive in their operation — and 
that through the address and industry of artful men, some of 
our citizens, otherwise highly estimable, are prepared to de- 
stroy that constitution, to whose abuse and perversion they 
ascribe all thrjse sufferings which have really flowed from the 
rapacity and injustice of the belligerents. 

Besides the party in New England, who are determined on a 
separation of the states for their own aggrandizement — there is 
one in the middle states equally dangerous. They are daily en- 
gaged in preparing the public mind for seizing the reins of go- 
vernment by violence, and expelling the public functionaries. 

With these gentlemen, it is a favourite idea, to send " the 
president to Elba,'' and supply his place with one of their own 
friends, and thus save the people the necessity of another elec- 
tion. Mr. Barent Gardenier, of New York, editor of the Cou- 
rier, and a few violent men in congress, are the most active of 
this party. All their talents and industry are devoted to this 
vile purpose. 

Blood and murder — lanterns and guillotines apart, this is as 
revolutionary, as disorganizing, as jacobiniral a project as any of 
those conceived by Danton, Legendre, Marat, Petion, or Ro- 
bespierre, in the earlv stages of the French revolution. And, 
reader, " lay 7iot thefiaUer'rng unction to your soul^"^ that we shall, 
in this event, escape bloodshed. It is as impossible that such 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION, It 

a flagitious project should be carried into operation, without 
rivers of blood being shed, as that ) ou could tear away the foun- 
dations on which a mighty edifice rests, without the edifice it- 
self crumbling to ruins ; or remove the dykes which oppose the 
violence of rushing torrents, and not have the circumjacent 
country overflowed. 

A favourite phrase with Mr. Gardenier is, that " the present 
administration must come doxvn.^'' This is quite explicit. ^ It is 
impossible to mistake the intention, or the mode of effecting it. 
The latter is very simple. History furnishes numerous exam- 
ples. It is the mode by which, after the Rubicon was passed, 
Julius Caesar rose to power on the ruins of the commonwealth ; 
by which Cromwell expelled the Rump parliament, and seized 
the reins of government ; and, to come to a later period, it is the 
mode whereby Bonaparte made himself master of the destinies 
of France. 

But, Mr. Gardenier, we are not ripe for this project yet. Can 
you, or can general Robert Wharton, (Mayor of Philadelphia) 
who has given the toast — " James Madison, on the island of 
Elba" — can you, I say, be mad enough to believe, that the hardy 
yeomanry of New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania, will al- 
low any band of desperadoes with impunity to tear the highest 
public functionaries of the nation from their seats — men chosen 
in strict conformity with the terms of the social compact ? 

If you flatter yourselves with any such pleasing delusions, 
awake, and shake off" the mighty error. Rely upon it, that those 
who may make the sacrilegious attempt, will, with their deluded 
followers, suffer condign punishment as traitors. 

For a considerable time past, the United States have exhibited 
a spectacle of the most extraordinar}- kind, and almost unique in 
the history of the world. 

Our constitution has probably but one material defect. It 
wants a due degree of energy, particularly pending war. If it 
were free from this, it might endure as many ages as the Spar- 
tan or Roman government. 

This defect must be a subject of deep and serious regret to 
all good men, not merely our cotemporaries or countrymen, but 
to those in future times and distant countries, who may feel an 
interest in the happiness of their fellow men. In perusing his- 
tory, we lament the errors of our ancestors — ours will be a sub- 
ject of lamentation to posterity. 

This serious defect in the frame of our government, renders it 
the imperious duty of all good citizens to uphold and support it 
with all their energy. But, all considerations of duty apart, 
tneye selfishness ought to prompt those who have any interest in 



12 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 

the welfare of the country, who may lose, but cannot gain by con- 
vulsions, and tumults, and confusion, and anarchy, with all their 
efforts to uphold the government which protects them in the en- 
joyment of all the blessings of life. 

It is, however, awful to relate, that a large proportion of the 
wealthiest men in the community have been as sedulously em- 
ployed in tearing down the pillars of the government^ — in throwing 
every obstacle and difficulty and embarrassment in the way of its 
administrators, as if it were equally oppressive with that of Al- 
giers or Turkey, or as if they could derive advantage from anar- 
chy. Should they be cursed with final success in their endea- 
vours, they and their posterity will long mourn the consequences. 

The national vessel is on rocks and quicksands, and in danger 
of shipwreck. There is, moreover, a larger and more formidable 
vessel prepari'.ig all possible means for her destruction. But, in- 
stead of efforts to extricate her, the crew are distracted by a dis- 
pute how she came into that situation. The grand and only ob- 
ject with a part of them is to seize the helm — and, rather than 
not succeed, they are resolved she shall run the risque of going to 
perdition. This party swears that all our difficulties and dangers 
are owing to the imbecility, the corruption, the madness, the 
folly of the pilot, whom they threaten with " a halter," or to put 
him ashore " on the island of Elba." The others swear with 
equal vehemence, that the refractory, turbulent, and factious spi- 
rit of the mutinous pai't of the crew has run the vessel aground. 
They are, accordingly, determined to defend the pilot. A few 
individuals, who see that both parties have contributed to pro- 
duce this calamitous event, in vain hold out " the Olive Branch^'' 
and implore them to suspend all enquiry into the cause of the 
danger till the ship is extricated. But it is in vain. While the 
parties are more and more inflamed against each other, the ves- 
sel bilges on a sharp rock — down she goes — pilot — and support- 
ers — and mutineers — and peace makers — all in one common de- 
struction ! 

This, I am fearful, will be our fate. But it may be prevented. 
All that is necessary is that a few influential men in the different 
states unite — bury the hatchet — and lay aside all minor conside- 
rations while the vessel of state is in danger. This policy is so 
obviously just, that one hundred individuals throughout the 
union setting the example, would have sufficient influence to ac- 
complish the blessed object of saving their country. 

Will the Clarksons,-the Rays, the Ludlows, theRemsens, the 
Ogdens, the Pearsalls, the Lenoxes, the Harrisons, the Lawren- 
ces, the M'Cormicks, of New York-— the Willings, the Fran- 
cises, the Norrises, the Biddies, the Latimers, the Tilghmans, 
the Wains, the Ralstons, the Lewises, of Philadelphia — theGil- 
mors, the Olivers, the Sterets, the Howards, the Smiths, the 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 13 

Bryces, the Grahams, the Cookes, of Baltimore — and other such 
estimable federalists throughout the union, continue to regard 
with apathy the dangers of their countrj^, and not make a bold 
and decisive stand to rescue her ? No. It cannot be. Heaven 
has not, I hope, so far blotted us out of its favourable remem- 
brance, as to abandon us to such a frightful destiny. It will, I 
hope, at this late hour, interpose for our salvation, and dispel 
the horrible mists of passion and prejudice — of madness and 
folly — which intercept from ovir view the abyss that yawns be- 
fore us, ready to swallow us up in remediless destruction. 

In England, the opposition to the ministry is always violent, 
and, like the opposition here, is too generally directed against 
all the measures of governmejit^ whether meritorious or other- 
wise. But there is in parliament a substantial country party^ 
which occasionally votes with the minister, and occasionally 
with the opposition — supporting or opposing measures as con- 
science dictates. 

It is a most unfortunate fact, that in congress the number of 
members of this description is very s?nall. That body may be 
generally classed into federalists and democrats, who too fre- 
quently vote in solid colums.* There are, I grant, laudable ex- 
ceptions. But they are too rare. 

This is one of the worst features in the situation of the coun- 
try. The indiscriminate adherence to party, and uniform sup- 
port of party arrangements, encourage the leaders to proceed to 
extremities^ and to adopt violent and pernicious measures, which 
the good sense of their followers may reprobate, but from Avhich 
they have not fortitude enough to -withhold their support. This 
has been in all countries the most frightful of the consequences 
of the unholy and deleterious spirit of faction. Men, originally 
of the purest hearts and best intentions, are, by this ignis fatiius^ 
gradually corrupted, and led step by step to unite in acts, at 
which they would, at the commencement of their career, have 
recoiled with horror and affright. I believe it is a sound politi- 
cal maxim, that a thoroughgoing party-man cannot he a perfectly 
honest politician ; for there perhaps never yet was a party free 
from errors and crimes, more or less gross, in exact proportion 
to the folly or the wickedness of its leaders. 

The Jews, besieged by Titus, within the walls of their metro- 
polis, availed themselves of the cessation of the hostile attacks 
of their external enemies, to glut their vengeance, and malice, 
and factious spirit, by butchering each other — and thus both par- 
ties fell an easy prey to the invaders. To this deplorable pitch of 
madness, xve have not yet arrived. But that we have hitherto es- 
caped this calamity, is not for want of industry on the part of 
those who are unceasingly employed as incendiaries in blowing 

* This state of thing-s has-materially changed since the war. Party spirit in 
Congress has very nearly subsided. May, 1818. 



14 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 

up the flames of discord, and preparing us for similar scene-s» 
The cool, and calm, and temperate part of the community, ap- 
pear torpid and languid, and take no steps to avert the awful ca- 
tastrophe. Let them awake from their slumbers soon ; or, at no 
distant day, the evil may be i-emediless, and they will in vain 
mourn over their folly. 

I believe Mr. Madison perfectly upright ; that his administra- 
tion of the government has been conducted with as pure inten- 
tions, as ever actuated a first magistrate of any country ; and 
that lord Chatham, or the great Sully, would have found it a 
very arduous task to manage the helm under the difficulties, ex- 
ternal and internal, that he has had to contend with. But were 
it a question that I'elated wholly to Mr. Madison or his admi- 
nistration, I should never have trespassed on the public. — Were 
Mr. Madison as patriotic as Curtius, or the Decii, as just as 
Aristides — and as immaculate as an archangel — nay, were all 
the heroes and statesmen of the revolution restored to life, and 
entrusted with the administration — I should consider their ho- 
nour, their interests, their happiness, or their safety, as dust in 
the balance, compared with the salvation of eight millions of 
people. 

It is difficult to conceive an object more worthy of the efforts 
of an ardent mind. A review of history will convince any rea- 
sonable or candid person, that there probably never was, and in- 
dubitably there is not at present, a more interesting portion of 
the human species, than the inhabitants of the United States. 
There never was a nation in which all the solid blessings and 
comforts of life were more fully enjoyed than they are here, 
and were secured by such slender sacrifices. I am not so blind 
an admirer, as to presume that the nation has no defects. 1 here 
never was a nation or individual free from them. But take all 
the leading points that give assurance of happiness, and afford 
the necessary indications of respectability ; and at no period can 
there be found a nation standing on more elevated ground. 

The former points of difference between the federalists and 
democrats have, for the present, lost all their importance. They 
are merged in objects of incomparably higher moment. Evils of 
incalculable magnitude menace us. A powerful enemy, flushed 
with success, and with superabundant means of annoyance, ho- 
vers on our coasts ; and, through his formidable navy, can inflict 
on us deep and lasting injury. And what is pregnant with more 
terror by far, instead of aiding to extricate us from this perilous 
situation, the opportunity of a season of difficulty and danger is 
seized on to attempt the dissolution of the union ; tO raise up 
hostile and jarring confederacies ; and to destroy the hopes man- 
kind have formed of our noble governmental experiment. 

To dispute about the minor points that have divided the par- 
ties heretofore, is madness. How superlative would be the folly 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. l5 

and absurdity of two men, who were fighting about the interior 
decorations and arrangements of an edifice, regardless of the 
operations of two others, one of whom was undermining and 
preparing to blow it up in the air, and the other providing a 
torch to set it on fire ? A strait jacket would be loo slender a re- 
straint for them. Such are the folly and madness of those demo- 
crats and federalists who continue their warfare about the mode 
of administering the government, or the persons by whom it 
shall be administered, at a time when the government itself is in 
danger of being destroyed root and branch. 

The plan of this work requires some short explanation. I be- 
lieve the country to be in imminent danger of a convulsion, 
whereof the human mind cannot calculate the consequences. 
The nation is divided into two hostile parties, whose animosity 
towards each other is daily increased by inflammatory publica- 
tions. Each charges the other with the guilt of having pro- 
duced the present alarming state of affairs. In private life, when 
two individuals quarrel, and each believes the other wholly in 
the wrong, a reconciliation is hardly practicable. But when 
they can be convinced that the errors are mutual— as is almost 
universally the case — they open their eai-s to the voice of reason, 
and are v/illing to meet each other half way. A maxim sound 
in private affairs, is rarely unsound in public life. While a vio- 
lent federalist believes all the evils of the present state of things 
have arisen from the guilt of the administration, nothing less will 
satisfy him than hurling Mr. Madison from the seat of govern- 
ment, and " sending him to Elba.'" While, on the other hand, a 
violent democrat persuades himself that all our dangers have ari- 
sen from the difficulties and embarrassments constantly and stea- 
dily thrown in the way of the administration by the federalists, 
he is utterly averse to any compromise. — Each looks down upon 
the other with scorn and hatred, as the Pharisee in the Gospel, 
upon the publican. I have endeavoured to prove, and I believe I 
have fully proved, that each party has a heavy debt of error, and 
folly, and guilt, to answer for to its injured country, and to pos- 
terity — and, as I have stated in the body of this work, that mu- 
tual forgiveness is no more than an act of justice — and can lay 
no claim to the character of liberality on either side. 

But even supposing for a moment — what probably hardly ever 
occurred since the world was formed — that the error is all on 
one side, is it less insane in the other to increase the diffi- 
culty of extrication — to refuse its aid— to embarrass those who Mt>-. 
have the management of affairs ? My house is on fire. Instead 
of calling for aid — or providing fire-engines — or endeavouring 
to smother the flames — I institute an inquiry how it took fire— « 
whether by accident or design — and if bv design, who was the 

O.B. 



t6 PREFACE TO THE TIRST EDITION. 

incendiary ; and further undertake to punish him on the spot for 
his wickedness! a most wise and wonderful procedure — and just 
on a level with the wisdom, and patriotism, and public spirit of 
those sapient members of congress, who spend days in making 
long speeches upon the cause of the war, and the errors of its 
management — every idea whereof has been a hundred, perhaps 
a thousand times repeated in the newspapers — instead of meeting 
the pressing and imperious necessity of the emergency. 

I claim but one merit in this production, and that is by no 
means inconsiderable. It is, that with a perfect knowledge of the 
furious, remorseless, never-dying, and cut-throat hostility, w ith 
which Faction has in all ages persecuted those who have dared 
oppose her — and perfectly satisfied, that with us she is an impla- 
cable, as malignant, and as inexorable a monster as she has 
ever been, I have dared, nevertheless, to state the truth, regard- 
less of the consequences. I was, it is true, reluctant. I should by 
far have preferred, for the remainder of my life, steering clear 
of the quicksands of politics. None of the questions that have 
heretofore divided parties in this country, could have induced 
me to venture upon the tempestuous ocean. But at a crisis like 
the present, neutrality would be guilt. The question now is be- 
tween the friends of social order, and jacobins, who are endea- 
vouring to destroy the whole fabric of government, with the 
slender chance of building it up again — between peace and har- 
mony on one side, and civil war and anarchy on the other. A 
lamentable delusion prevails. 1 he community shut their eyes 
against the truth on the subject. But this is the real state of the 
case, or I am as grossly deceived as ever was human being. 
And unless some of our influential men exert themselves to al- 
lay the storm, a few short months will change doubt into aw- 
ful and dreadful certainty. 

While I was deliberating about the sacrifice which such a 
publication as this requires, one serious and affecting considera- 
tion removed my doubts, and decided my conduct. Seeing 
thousands of the flower of our population — to whom the spring of 
life just opens with all its joys, and pleasures, and enchantments — 
prepared in the tented field to risk, or, if necessary, sacrifice 
their lives for their country's welfare ; I thought it would be 
baseness in me, whose sun has long passed the meridian, and on 
whom the attractions of life have ceased to operate with their 
early fascinations, to have declined any risk that might arise from 
the effort to ward off the patricidal stroke aimed at a country to 
which I owe such heavy obligations. With this view of the sub- 
ject, I could not decide otherwise than I have done. 

On the execution of the work it behoves me to offer a few 
remarks. I know it is very considerably imperfect. It is hard- 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. ti 

ly possible to prepare any literary production under greater dis- 
advantages than have attended the Olive Branch. A large por- 
tion of it is, therefore, crude, and indigested, and without order. 
Were it a treatise on morals, religion, history, or science, which 
could not suffer by the delay necessary to mature and niethodize 
it, 1 should be unpardonable, and deserve the severest castiga- 
tion of criticism, for presenting it to the public in this unfinished 
state. But the exigencies of the times are so pressing, that 
were it delayed till I could digest it properly, it might be wholly 
out of season. 

It would be unjust were I not to acknowledge the numerous 
and weighty obligations I owe to "• The "Weekly Register," 
edited by H. Niles, the best periodical work ever published in 
America, from which I have drawn a large portion of the facts 
and documents I have employed. I venture to assert that no 
American library can be complete without this woi'k. 

I have carefully studied to be correct in point of fact and 
argument. But the circumstances under which I have written, 
render it probable that I may have fallen into errors. I shall 
therefore regard it as a most particular favour, if any gentleman 
who discovers them, however minute, will frankly point them 
out, and they shall be most cheerfully corrected. If of sufficient 
importance, I shall make a public acknowledgment in the news- 
papers. If the cause I espouse cannot be supported by truth, 
candour, and fair argument, may it perish, never to find another 
advocate ! 



PLAN OF AN UNION SOCIETY. 

" Above all things hold dear your national union. Accustom yourselves to 
estimate its infinite value to your individual and national happiness. Look on 
it as the palladium of your tranquillity at home ; of your peace abroad ; of 
your safety ; of yom* prosperity ; and even of that liberty which you so highly 
prize " wasuington's farewell address. 

WHEREAS many disaffected citizens have long laboured 
to prepare the public mind for a dissolution of the union, and 
the formation of separate confederacies ; and whereas they have 
at length publicly and daringly avowed their flagitious designs ; 
and whereas the experience of all history to the present time 
affords the most complete proof that such dissolutions of exist- 
ing forms of government, and the formation of new ones, have 
almost invariably produced bloody civil wars, the greatest curse 
that ever afflicted mankind ; and whereas the present form of 
the general government, if duly supported by our citizens, is 
calculated to produce as high a degree of happiness as has ever 
fallen to the lot of any nation ; and whereas the separate con- 
federacies, contemplated as substitutes for the present general 



18 PREFACE TO THE ITRST EDITION* 

confederacy, even if it were possible to establish them peace- 
ably, would be pregnant with interminable future wars, such as 
have almost constantly prevailed between neighbouring states, 
with rival interests, real or supposed ; and would hold out every 
possible inducement, and every desirable facility, to foreign na- 
tions, to array each against the other, and thus subjugate the 
whole, or at least render them dependent upon, or subservient 
to those foreign nations ; and whereas, finally, it would be ab- 
solute madness to throw away the incalculable blessings we 
enjoy, for the mere chance of bettering our condition, and still 
more for the absolute certainty of rendering it much worse : 

Therefore resolved^ that we the subscribers do associate un- 
der the title of THE WASHINGTON UNION SOCIETY, 
of which the following is the 

' CONSTITUTION. 

I. We solemnly pledge ourselves to support by every ho- 
nourable and legal means in our power, the existing form of the 
general government. 

II. That we will use our utmost endeavours to counteract, 
as far as in our power, all plots for the dissolution of the union. 

III. That we will correspond and cheerfully co-operate with 
all individuals, and bodies of men, in all parts of the union, who 
have the same views with us on the object embraced in the se- 
cond article, however they may differ from us on other political 
topics. 

IV. That the officers of the society shall be a president, vice- 
president, secretary, treasurer, committee of correspondence, 
and committee of elections. 

V. That it shall be the duty of the committee of correspon- 
dence, to invite the good citizens of this state, and of the other 
states, to form similar societies, and to correspond with them ; 
to investigate and expose to public abhorrence, the various plans 
that have been adopted from time to time, to effect the parri- 
cidal purpose of dissolving the union ; to place in the strongest 
point of light the advantages of our blessed form of govern- 
ment, with the tremendous consequences of civil war, and (the 
inevitable result of a separation) our being instruments in the 
hands of the great powers of Europe, to annoy, ravage, depo- 
pulate, slaughter, and destroy each other. 



PREFACE 

TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

Philadelphia^ January A^^ 1815. 



THE unequivocal and decided approbation with which the 
former edition of this work has been favoured by respectable 
men of both the hostile parties that divide this country, I regard 
as among the most grateful circumstances of my life. Its nu- 
merous defects — its want of method — and the great imperfec- 
tion of its style and manner — were, I presume, regarded as 
atoned for by its obvious and undeniable object — the object of 
contributing my feeble efforts towards allaying the effervescence, 
the turbulence, the animosity that pervade the community, and 
are pregnant with such alarming consequences. 

Of the time that has elapsed since its first appearance, I have 
availed myself, to amplify — to methodize — and to improve it. 
And although I am very far indeed from presuming it to be 
perfect, yet I hope it will be found more entitled to patronage 
than it was in its original deshabille. 

It embraces a very convulsed period of our history ; and has 
been written under no common disadvantages. I have laboured 
under a great deficiency of various materials and documents, 
which no exertions have enabled me to procure — and it has been 
begun, carried on, and completed in moments constantly sub- 
ject to those interruptions inevitable in the pressure of business. 
To suppose, then, it were perfect, would argue a degree of in- 
sanity which the fondest and most doting delirium of paternal 
vanity could hardly palliate. It would be a case unparalleled 
in the annals of literature. The world has had numerous in- 
stances of men of most splendid talents — of laborious research, 
with abundant materials and documents — enjoying full leisure 
to do justice to their subjects — and employing years for the 
purpose — yet falling into egregious errors. It could not then 
be expected that a work embracing such a variety of objects, 
and written under such disadvantages as I have stated, should 
be free from them. But the reader may rest assured that what- 
ever they may be, they have not resulted from design. They 
are the offspring of slenderness of talents — deficiency of mate- 
rials — inadvertence — or that bias to which all men are subject, 
in a greater or less degree, when treating on subjects wherein 



20 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

they feel deeply interested : of the latter, however, I have la- 
boured to divest myself. 

Had I written with any view to literary reputation, the work 
would have made a totally different appearance. Instead of 
presenting the reader with so many documents verbatim, I 
should, as is usual with other writers, have given abstracts of 
them in my own words — and thus formed a regular connected 
narrative of events, far more agreeable to read than the work 
in its present form, and rather easier to write ; for the reader 
may rest assured, that I have frequently written three pages in less 
time than I employed in the search for a document, which does 
not occupy a single page, and whereof I could have readily given 
an analysis ; and long laborious researches for a document or 
newspaper paragraph or essay, have not unfrequently been wholly 
in vain. 

But though a thirst for literary reputation is far from illaud- 
able — and though it inspires to great exertions, it has not had 
the slightest influence on me in this case. It would have been 
utterly unavailing to counteract the loathing, the abhorrence I 
felt at entering into political discussion, or for making myself 
once more an object of newspaper abuse, of which few men in 
private life have been honoured with a greater share. 

No. I appeal to heaven for the truth of what I now declare. 
I soared to higher objects, far beyond such narrow views. I 
believed — I still believe — that a dissolution of the union is con- 
templated by a few ambitious and wicked men ; that in the state 
of excitement to which the public mind is raised, and which is 
hourly increasing by the most profligate disregard of truth and 
of the welfare of the country — and by the utmost prostitution of 
talents — a mere trifle would suffice to produce a convulsion — 
(as, when you have collected together a quantity of highly com- 
bustible materials, a single spark suffices to produce a conflagra- 
tion) — that a dissolution of the union would infallibly produce a 
civil war ; that in the event of a civil war, there would be a 
straggle throughout the country for ascendency, wherein would 
be perpetrated atrocities similar to those which disgraced the 
French revolution ; that even if we escaped a civil war, or, (if 
we did not) after its termination, and the establishment of sep- 
arate confederacies, the country would be cm^sed with a con- 
stant border war, fomented by the nations of Europe, to 
whom we should be a sport and a prey ; and that, in one word, 
a nation most highly favoured by heaven, is on the very verge 
of perdition. 

These views may be erroneous. Would to heaven they were ! 
They diff'er from those of most of my friends. The mass of the 
community do not accord with them. But they are unalterably 
impressed upon my mind, and I cannot shake them off. They 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 21 

are all supported by the instructive but neglected voice of his- 
tory. I possess not the happy faculty with which so many are 
endowed, to believe an event will not take place, because I 
hope and pray it may not. I am disposed to envy those who 
are thus gifted. It diminishes the hours ot suffering. In a life 
so chequered as ours, this is some advantage. But it has, like 
all other blessings, a counterpoising evil. When we disbelieve 
in the approach of danger, we make no preparations to repel it. 

"With these impressions, I preferred risking any consequences, 
however pernicious to myself, that might arise from the present 
work, to a state of torpor and inactivity — to perishing without 
an effort. In a sanguine moment, I indulged the flattering, the 
fond, (pray heaven it may not be the delusive) hope that my ef- 
forts might be so far crowned with success, as to make me the 
happy, the blessed instrument of arousing even one, two, or 
three active influential citizens from the morbid, the lethargic 
slumber, into which the community has been so fatally lulled ; 
that these might arouse others ; and that thus the potent spells 
might be dissolved, which, in a manner vmexampled in the his- 
tory of the world, make us regard with stupid, torpid apathy 
and indifference, the actual bankruptcy of our government (pro- 
duced by a most daring conspiracy) — the impending destruc- 
tion of our glorious constitution, the v/ork of Washington, 
Franklin, Livingston, Hamilton, &c. the depreciation of every 
species of property — and the approaching ruin of our country. 
Should heaven thus bless me, die afterwards when I may, I shall 
not have lived in vain. Should I fail, on my tombstone shall be 
engraven, " magnis excidit ausisj*^ 

I offer these great and solemn truths to the consideration of 
all who have an interest in the welfare of this country. 

I. A separation of the states ca7inot be effected rvithoiit an hn- 
?nediate CIVIL, a7id almost con^?/2wa/ BORDER WAR ; and 
must inevitably place us at the mercy of England, and make this 
country the sport of the European powers ot all future times, 

II. As well might we expect to re-unite, without a flaw, the 
fragments of an elegant porcelain vase, shattered to pieces, as 
to restore the union, if dissolved but for one hour. 

III. A period of war, and invasion, and danger, is utterly un- 
fit for repairing or amending a constitution. Nothing but con- 
vulsion can arise out of the attempt. 

IV. General Washington, in his legacy, one of the noblest 
efforts of human wisdom, impressively urged his countrymen 
to frown indignantly upon any attempt to impair or dissolve the 
union. 

V. To hostile European powers a dissolution would be of 
immense and incalculable advantage. 



22 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 

VI. It would be inexpressible folly and madness to reject the 
policy dictated by Washington, and follow that which would be 
dictated by those powers of Europe who regard our prosperity 
with jealousy ; to abandon the maxims of our most devoted 
friend for those of our most deadly enemies. 



PREFACE 

TO THE FOURTH EDITION.* 

Philadelphia^ April 10, 1815. 

I COMMENCE this preface, with feelings very different indeed 
from those by which I was actuated, when I penned the former 
ones. Prospects, public and private, have wonderfully im- 
proved. A revolution, immense, striking, glorious, and de- 
lightful, has taken place in the affairs of our blessed country, for 
which we cannot be sufficiently grateful to heaven. We have 
rot — I say emphatically, we have not — merited the change. I 
could assign various satisfactory reasons in proof of this opinion, 
extraordinary as it may seem. I waive them. It is unnecessary 
to enter into the recapitulation. But whatever may have been 
our past merits or demerits, I hope our prosperity is now fixed 
on a basis as firm as the rock of Gibraltar. 

In the present tranquillized state of the public mind, when the 
fears and solicitudes excited by the late alarming state of affairs 
have subsided, it will be difficult for the reader to justify, or 
even to account for, the warmth which many parts of this work 
display. It is therefore but justice to myself, to give a rapid 
sketch of the scenes through which we have passed, in order to 
account for the excitement of mind so obvious to every reader 
in the perusal of some of the chapters. 

The government had been nearly reduced to bankruptcy, 
and unable to raise money to discharge the most imperious 
engagements. There was no general circulating medium in 
the country. The banks from New-York to New-Orleans, in- 
clusively, had, with perhaps one or two exceptions, suspended 
the payment of specie. The bank notes of Philadelphia and 
New -York were depreciated in Boston from 15 to 25 per cent, 
below par. And every feature in our political affairs wore an 
equally awful aspect. Whether the causes I have assigned in 
chapterLII. really produced this state of things or not, is imma- 
terial. Be the cause what it may, the fact existed. Want of 
money had partially suspended the recruiting service. And 

• The thh'd edition, of 1250 copies, was printed in Boston. 



i'REFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION". 23 

the pacification of Europe had quadrupled the disposable force 
of our enemy, and in the same degree increased our danger, 
and the necessity for energy and vigilance. 

Under these circumstances, congress was convened on the 
19th of September, nearly two months earlier than the period 
fixed by law, in order to make provision for such an exti-aordi- 
nary emergency. The state of the nation was fully detailed in 
various executive communications, which called, imperiously 
called, for energy and decision. 

Rarely has a legislative body had more important duties to 
fulfil, or a more glorious opportunity of signalizing itself, and 
laying claim to the public gratitude. Rarely have stronger mo- 
tives existed, to arouse every spark of public spirit or patriot- 
ism that had lain dormant in the heart. And I venture to as- 
sert, there hardly ever was a legislature that more completely 
disappointed pviblic expectation — that more egregiously tailed of 
its dutv. 

The imbecility, the folly, the vacillation, the want of system, 
of energy, and of decision, displayed by the majority — and 
the unyielding, stubborn, violent, and factious opposition of 
the minoritv, to all the ineasures for which the occasion so 
loudly called — have affixed an indelible stain on the memory 
of the thirteenth congress. It will be long remembered with 
emotions neither of gratitude nor respect. No where, I am 
pei'suaded, in the annals of legislation, is there to be found an 
instance of precious time more astonishingly wasted. It had 
been in session nearly five months when the news of peace ar- 
rived — and had but three weeks to sit. The spring, the season 
of hostilitv and depredation, was rapidly approaching. And 
what had it done to serve or save its country ? What provision 
had it made of men or money ? Little or none. Nearly all the 
measures adapted to the emergency that had been brought for- 
ward in congress, had been defeated.* 

That this state of public affairs was calculated to excite 
warmth of feeling, and to call forth a strong expression of 
that warmth, must be obvious — and will not merely account 
for, but justify the high-wrought passages to be found in the 
work, which, under other circumstances, might perhaps be in- 
defensible. 

* I have asserted elsewhere, that England presents much to admire and 
copy. In this point she is transcendently superior to us. Had the British 
parliament been called in such a crisis as existed last September in tins coun- 
try, all the effective preparations necessary to breast the storm, would have 
been made in one week. Some of the declamatoiy speeclies, of two or three 
days long, occupied as much time as that parliament uould have required to 
raise fifty millions of money, and to provide means fur embodying an army of 
50,000 m'en. 

O. H. 4^ 



24 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 

It will be asked, what good purpose can the re-publication ot 
this work answer at present? Is it not, it will be said, fur better 
to bury the hatchet, and to consign these things to oblivion, than 
to keep alive animosity and discord ? 

Were the tendency of the Olive Branch to keep alive discord, 
I should unhesitatingly consign it to the flames. But I utterly 
disbelieve this can be the consequence. I cannot admit that a 
fair detail of the mutual follies and wickedness of the two par- 
ties, has a tendency to perpetuate hostility between them. It 
is contrary to reason, common sense, and the universal experi- 
ence of mankind. 

Peace, or harmony, or conciliation, is not to be hoped for, 
while both parties clothe themselves in the deceptions mantle 
of self-righteousness — while they not only believe themselves 
immaculate, but their opponents " monsters unredeemed by any 
virtue.^''* Nothing but a serious, solemn, and deep-rooted con- 
viction on both sides, of egregious misconduct, can lead to that 
temper of mind which is necessary to produce a mild, concilia- 
ting spirit. While each acts the part of the self-approving pha- 
risee, we might with equal chance of success attempt to unite 
fire and water — light and darkness — virtue and vice, as to re- 
concile them. But when both regard themselves in their true 
light, as offenders against their duties to their country, they will 
be disposed to forgive, that they may be forgiven. This idea, 
which is the basis whereon this work rests, cannot be too often 
repeated, and inculcated on the public mind. 

I fondly hope the Olive Branch will have other uses — that it 
may serve as a beacon to other times than ours. When a navi- 
gator discovers new shoals, and rocks, and quicksands, he marks 
them on his chart, to admonish future navigators to be on their 
guard, and to shun the destruction to which ignorance might 
lead. 

This strongly applies to our case. By an extraordinary mix- 
ture of folly and wickedness, we had run the vessel of state on 
rocks, and quicksands, and breakers, where she was in immi- 
nent danger of perishing. We had brought to the verge of per- 
dition the noblest form of government, and the most free and 
happy people, that the sun ever beheld. But, thanks to heaven 
—not to our virtue,| our public spirit, or our liberality — we 

* .Ifonstra nulla virtute redempta. 

•j-The illustrious heroes of the western countrj' — our gallant navy — several 
of our generals and armies on the linos — the citizens of Baltimore and of Sto- 
nington — the garrison at Crany island — and the people of some other places — 
are obviously exempt from this censure. And never was there greater energy 
displayed than in New York, in making preparations for the warm reception 
of an enemy. But when we consider the violence of the eastern states against 
the rulers chosen by the people, the torpor and indifference of the mighty 
state of Pennsylvania, and of other portions of tiie union, we must heave a 
fljgh, and draw a' veil over past scenes 



preface" TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 25 

have escaped. We have arrived safe in port. I have endeavour- 
ed to delineate a chart of the most formidable of the rocks on 
which our vessel was striking, to serve as a guide to future state 
pilots. I trust the chart cannot be examined attentively without 
benefit. It establishes an important, but most awful political 
maxim, that during the prevalence of the destructive, and de- 
vouring, and execrable spirit of faction, men, otherwise good 
and respectable, will too frequently sacrifice, without scruple or 
remorse, the most vital interests of their country, under the dic- 
tates, and to promote the views, of violent and ambitious lead- 
ers ! What a terrific subject for contemplation ! 

The publication of this book has estalolished one point, of con- 
siderable importance to the truth of history, and to the happi- 
ness of mankind ; that it is not quite so dangerous, as has been 
supposed, for a writer to draw a portrait of his cotemporaries — 
provided the features be faithfully and impartially delineated. 
It has been too generally presumed to be utterly unsafe to write 
of our own times with truth. With this idea I was impressed 
when I first engaged in the work. And it required no common 
stimulus to inspire me with the hardihood the undertaking re- 
quired. 

But the event has falsified the anticipation. Without any of 
the advantages that office, or rank, or connexions afford, I have 
dared publicly to stigmatize faction, and jacobinism, and disor- 
ganization — as well as factious men, and jacobins, and disorga- 
nizers — by their proper names, without distinction of party. 
And the reliance I placed upon the good sense of the public has 
not been disappointed. My efforts have been received by a 
large proportion of the good and great men of the nation with a 
favour and kindness, which fill my heart with the most exqui- 
site pleasure — and amply repay my trouble and my risk—the 
sacrifice of my business and of my enjoyments, during the pro- 
gress of the work — and hold out encouragement to political 
writers to shun that slavish and dishonourable devotion to party, 
whereby truth is sacrificed, and history made a mere tissue of 
fables. If no other effect had been produced by this book, I 
should not have written in vain. 

The advantages of cotemporaneous writing are numerous and 
weighty. When the passing events are recorded and comment- 
ed on, while they are, as it were, spread before our eyes, it only 
requires honesty of intention to make the portrait a tolerable 
likeness. But when we treat on occurrences of " years that are 
past and gone," it is like tracing the features of a deceased 
friend from memory. The great and leading outlines may be 
correct — but in filling up the drawing, many of the n^pst impor- 
tant characteristics must escape. 



^& PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 

It may not be improper to warn the reader, that I am at- 
tached to, and in general approve of the political views and 
most part (not the whole by any means) of the conduct of that 
party which was stigmatized as antifederal, before the adoption 
of the federal constitution, and is now styled democratic or 
republican. We were called anti federalists, because we were 
eager to have the federal constitution amended previous to its 
ratification, doubting the practicability of amendment after- 
wards. We were wild and extravagant enough to see despo- 
tism in many of its features ; and were so fatuitous and blind 
as not to have the slightest idea of danger from the state go- 
vernments. We have lived to see our miserable infatuation, 
and to deprecate and deplore its consequences. 

My reason for this explicit avowal is, to induce the reader to 
receive my opinions ancl inferences with the caution which is 
necessary, from the probability of my being under the influence 
of that bias, which, more or less, every man feels towards the 
party to which he is attached ; and which, notwithstanding I 
have sedulously endeavoured to guard against its influence, 
may have occasionallv led me astray. To no human being has 
heaven deigned to impart infallibility : and it would be almost 
a miracle, if, in such a wide scope as I have taken, I were not 
sometimes warped by passion or prejudice. 

But to this it is proper to add, that I believe no man ever 
•wrote a book of this extent, and embracing such a variety of 
subjects, who made lighter demands on the complaisance or 
credulity of his readers than I have done. For as the subjects 
I have discussed are of incalculable moment — as the happiness 
or misery of unborn millions, as well as of this generation, de- 
pends on the course we steer — as that course must be materially 
affected by the correctness or error of the views we may take 
of our past system of conduct — and as I have dared to cite 
before the bar of the public, men of high standing — great ta- 
lents — great wealth — and powerful influetice — I have judged it 
proper to support, as far as in my power, and to a degree hardly 
ever exceeded, all the important facts, by documents of undeni- 
able authority. Many of my readers will probably believe that 
I have gone unnecessary lengths in this respect. But I trust I 
have not. It is at all events far better to produce too much 
evidence than too little. 

Were every line of my own writing in this work annihilated, 
the documents, which are its bones, and sijiews, and muscles, 
would be amply adequate to establish the positions I meant to 
prove. 

The strong style I have used in treating of the conduct of 
the eastern federalists, will be censured. But it may be de- 
fended on impregnable ground. In all their lucubrations on the 
motives of the war — the proceedings of the administration — 



PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 27 

and the conduct of their opponents — they uniformly employ the 
most unqualified terms of reprobation and condemnation. To 
sheer, downright wickedness, all the errors and misfortunes that 
have occurred, are ascribed. There is not the slightest shade 
of allowance made for human imperfection. A deep, wicked, 
and desperate conspiracy to destroy commerce is assumed as 
the leading motive of government. And all its measures are 
charged to, and accounted for by, this absurd, this unfounded, 
this contemptible, this often-refuted allegation. 

Those who shew no mercy, and hardly any justice, have no 
right to complain, if they are themselves treated with strict and 
unrelenting justice. " \Vith what measure ye mete, it shall be 
measured to you again." 

I have in the appendix, commencing with chapter 60, consi- 
derably extended the subjects of this work. 

The pacific policy which our local situation affords us rea- 
son to hope we may safely pursue, and which our interest die 
tates, has induced me to review the restrictive system, and to 
point out its decisive effects on the prosperity of England. It 
is a most potent weapon — and, had not faction deprived it of its 
efficacy, would have insured us complete justice, and averted 
the horrors of warfare. To the defeat of this mild, but power- 
ful instrument, we may justly charge all the carnage and the ex- 
pense of the war. 

An efficient and safe mode of defence, whereby foreign ag- 
gressions may be prevented, and internal tranquillity preserved, 
is the greatest desideratum in our political system. It is the 
key-stone of the arch of our freedom and happiness. I have 
therefore gone most copiously into the consideration of the 
subject. — The authority I have produced is irresistible. Nei- 
ther Pringle, nor Cullen, nor Sydenham, on medicine — nor La- 
voisier, nor Chaptal, nor Davie, on chemistry — nor Luther, nor 
Calvin, nor Wesley, among their respective followers, on reli- 
gion — are superior authority to general Washington on militia 
service. I have therefore availed myself of his testimony, to an 
extent which nothing but the immense magnitude of the subject 
could j ustify. 

I have, likewise, in the appendix analized a small pamphlet, 
which I published last November, entitled " A calm address to 
the people of the eastern states," wherein I have given a full 
view of the very erroneous opinions entertained respecting the 
slave representation; and I think fully proved, that notwith- 
standing the unceasing outcry and clamour on this subject in 
the eastern states, from the organization of the government, 
those states have uniformly had more than their share of influ- 
ence in the legislature of the union, without having any regard 



28 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 

to the slave population. In the course of this investigation I 
have made two curious discoveries — one, that New- York and 
Delaware have each a slave representative — and the other, that 
Massachusetts, although she has no slaves, has a representative 
of her black population. 

Before I dismiss the work from my hands, feeling the soli- 
citude of a parent for his offspring, I cannot refrain from once 
more requesting the reader, when he discovers any errors of 
style or matter — any deficiency or redundancy — or, in a word, 
any thing to censure, that he will bear in mind the disadvan- 
tages under which I have written — in hours stolen from sleep^ 
and during the pressure of a business which in no common de- 
gree requires all the energies of body and mind ; that I have 
in my various editions, and in the public papers, solicited the 
suggestion of errors, which, if pointed out, I promised to cor- 
rect ; — and that I have also in the papers, and privately, in vain 
solicited communications from those who could and ought to 
have afforded them. 

On subjects that have employed so many thousand pens and 
tongues, much novelty cannot be expected. It is possible that 
there is not a new idea in the whole work. All that Dr. Frank- 
lin or Patrick Henry could claim in the investigation of topics 
so long hacknied, is merely the arrangement. 

. I fondly flatter myself that in this work will be found mate- 
rials for a complete defence of the American nation in its in- 
tercourse with England. I am grossly deceived, if the mild, 
forbearing, pacific system pursued by this country for so many 
years, amidst such grievous, such outrageous, such contumelious 
provocations, will not universally receive, as it deserves, the 
praise — and the oppressive and injurious conduct of England to 
us, the censure — of all Christendom. 

It would be gross injustice to suppose, that I wish to perpet- 
uate the hatred between the two nations. It is very far from 
my intention. It is the interest of the United States, and will 
be their policy, if treated with common decency or justice, to 
cultivate peace with all the world. And I am much deceived, 
if a plain and candid exposure of the vexatious, harassing, in- 
sulting, and lawless policy pursued by the successive ministers 
of England, from the year 1793, will not be the best means of 
preventing a recurrence of such impolitic and unjust conduct. 
They have deeply injured us. But the injury they inflicted on 
the vital interests of their own nation, has far exceeded what we 
have suffered. 



PREFACE 

f TO THE SIXTH EDITION.* 

Philadelphia^ September 6^ 181j. 

Once more, and probably for the last time, I offer the 
" Olive Branch," to my fellow citizens ; improved and enlarged 
as far as in my power. I feel grateful for the kindness and in- 
dulgence extended to its imperfections. 

Of the origin and progress of a work, which has succeeded so 
far beyond all human expectations, I may, perhaps, be permit- 
ted, without incurring the charge of vanity, to give a brief ac- 
count. Should the detail be really chargeable to that source, 
(iio man can judge correctly of himself) I hope it will be re- 
garded as a venial failing. 

Early in September, 1814, I was under as great a depression 
of mind, about the state of affairs, public and private, as any 
man ever experienced. A deep and awful gloom pervaded the 
thinking part of the community ! Thick clouds and darkness 
covered the horizon ! The keenest eye could not behold, and 
could hardly anticipate a single spark of sunshine ! Washing- 
ton had been taken — and its public buildings destroyed with 
Gothic barbarity ! Alexandria had been pillaged and plundered ! 
Hampton had suffered rape and rapine ! Baltimore was menaced 
with signal vengeance, and pointed out for military execution, 
in papers published by citizens of the United States ! ! ! I ! ! 
Philadelphia and New York were held in a state of the most 
alarming suspense, and in daily expectation of a hostile visit — 
and of perhaps sharing the fate of Washington and Alexandria ! 
And a proclamation by admira Cockbum had been received by 
our government, wherein he stated that he had received orders 
to desolate such parts of our country as were assailable. 

At this awful moment, the horrible, the disorganizing, the 
Jacobinical idea was not unfrequently advanced in our coffee- 
house, in our streets, and in our newspapers, that the war hav- 
ing been begun by the democrats, they must carry it on;| 
that they had no right to call on the federalists for assistance, 
which the latter ought not to afford ; that if the democrats 
compromitted the honour and the interests of their countrs, by 
a dishonourable peace, the federalists should take the power 

* The ^Kddlebury Edition, of 1920 copies, is the Fifth. 

f See the contents of the 75th chapter, for ample details in full proof of this 
allegation 



130 PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. 

out of their hands, and then contend for the violated honour and 
dignity of the country ; that the British could not, nor, consist- 
ently with a regard to their honour, ought they to, treat with 
Mr. Madison, who should be compelled to resign ; with a vast 
variety of the same patriotic doctrines, which wei-e publicly pro- 
mulgated in some of our newspapers. At the same time, a few 
desperate men were preparing to add to the general distress and 
difficulty by a dissolution of the union.* 

I was appalled at this horrible and factious violence of some 
of the leaders of the federalists ; and equally so at the odious im- 
becility and inactivity of the democrats. As the government, 
chosen by the free voice of a large majority of the nation, did 
not exercise the energy and decision, that were requisite to con- 
troul and coerce the refractory minority, it appeared far better 
to make a change, than let the country become a prey to a foreign 
enemy — or be torn in pieces by internal discord, which seemed 
the only alternative. A frightful and sorrowful alternative ! 
But the violence of party and faction seemed to force it on the 
country. 

With a mind, harrowed up with these terrific considerations, 
I sat down to write, on the 6th of September. On a careful ex- 
amination of " the whole ground,'' the least of the mighty evils 
before the nation, appeai'ed to be, to submit to swallow the bitter 
pill presented, and make a radical change in the administration 
— so as to hold out inducements to the federalists to unite their 
exertions to rescue the country from impending ruin. This ra- 
dical change, I thought, ought to be introduced by resignation 
on the part of the incumbents. 

This confession will excite different emotions. Some readers 
will smile at the arrogance of daring to suggest such a plan. 
Others will abuse the imbecility of the proposal, to give an inch 
of ground. '•' He jests at scars who never felt a wound^^ And 
no man who cannot most distinctly and clearly place before his 
eyes, the gloomy and frightful prospect, then in view, is capa- 
ble of forming a correct judgment on the subject. But I feel 
the most perfect indifference, as to the opinion that may be en- 

* It may serve to dis])lay the high fever of the public mind, to annex an ar- 
rogant, and almost treasonable resolution offei'ed in the house of representa- 
tives of Massachusetts, about four weeks after this period, viz. Oct. 5, 1814, by 
Mr. I, aw of Lyman, which was, however, withdi'awn the next da\', as premature 
at that time. 

" llesolved, that a committee be appointed to confer with all the new 
*' England States, and see if they will agree to appoint a committee to join 
"them, and repair to tlie city of Washington immediately, then and there per- 
"sonally to make known to the president, the general opinion of all the New 
" England States in regard to the present war, and tlie manner in which it has 
" bee'n conducted ; and inform him that he MUST EITHElt RESIGN HIS 
"OFFICE AS PRESIDENT, or remove those ttmiisters and their oncers, yeho 
" have by their nefarious pla?is mined the nation .'.' ! .' ! J" 



PREFACE To THE SIXTH EEHTION. 31 

tertained. I merely state the fact, neither caring for, nor ex- 
pecting praise, and equally remote from the deprecation of cen- 
sure. 

That evening I wrote twelve or fourteen pages, containing a 
brief review of our past proceedings — reflections on our actual 
situation — with hints for the proposed new arrangements. 

However great my despondence, I felt dissatisfied with what 
I had committed to paper. I laid it aside — and did not resume 
it for ten or twelve days. In the interim the glorious news 
arrived, of the complete defeat of the enemy at Baltimore — of 
the immortal M'Donough's victory on lake Champlain — of the 
discomfiture and flight of Gen. Prevost's Wellingtonians, at and 
from Plattsburg. These wonderful successes made a total change 
in the face of affairs. By this time my spirits revived. I re- 
jected my embryo work, and flattered myself into the opinion, 
that a candid appeal to men of integrity of both parties, might 
produce a beneficial eff"ect ; that a few might be aroused, and 
rouse others ; that at all events, it was worth the trial ; that in 
such a noble undertaking as an attempt to rescue the country, 
from what I regarded as impending anarchy, even a failure 
would be honourable — and success would be glorious and emi- 
nently beneficial. 

I therefore destroyed what I had written, and began the work 
anew, on its present plan, about the 18th of September. I had a 
large stock of public documents — I borrowed some — and with 
these, and the Weekly Register, amid all the hurry and bustle 
of business, in the leisure hours of six weeks, I patched up the 
first crude and indigested edition. It was published on the ninth 
of November. 

I ought to have observed, that when it was about two-thirds 
printed, I was struck with astonishment at my Quixotism and 
folly, in expecting to make an impression on a community, torn 
in pieces by faction ; a prey to the most violent passions ; and 
labouring under the most awful degree of delusion. My heart 
sunk within me at my presumption : and, the reader may rest 
assured, I was on the point of converting the sheets into waste 
paper. This ague fit went off" in a day or two ; and I determin- 
ed to give the work a fair experiment. 

The edition was small — only 500 copies. Two motives dic- 
tated this limited scale. I knew the work must necessarily be 
very imperfect, from the disadvantages under which it was 
written : and I determined, if it met with success, to have an 
opportunity to improve and extend it : moreover, from the al- 
most universal failure of political publications, I was far indeed 
from being sanguine in the hope of success. 

My expectations of sale lay principally at Washington. I 
sent one hundred copies there, as a sort of breakfast, calculating 
O. B. o 



32 PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION; 

upon a speedy sale of them, and an order for more. There were 
above two hundred legislators there, and twice as many visit- 
ors ; and I supposed that whatever might be the demerits of the 
execution, the importance of the topics discussed, would insure 
the sale of a large part of the edition ; more particularly, as I 
had already received a highly flattering approbation of the work 
from the late vice-president, and other gentlemen, to whom I 
had sent copies by mail. 

The result disappointed those calculations ; and, had I been 
actuated by the vanity of authorship, would have sufficiently 
mortified it ; for when I had, in Philadelphia, New-York, and 
Baltimore, disposed of the remaining four hundred, and wrote 
down to Mr. Weightman, at AVashington, to enquire into the 
success of the work, I learned that four of the hundred had 
been stolen on the road — that fifty-nine remained unsold — and 
that thirty-seven copies had fullif satis fed the curiosity of a 
president^ three secretaries^ thirty-six senators^ one hundred and 
eighty-two representatives^ one or two hundred clerks^ the whole 
of the population of the metropolis of the United States^ and all 
its 7iumerous visitors f It is probable, that in such circumstan- 
ces, so great a degree of miserable apathy and indifference, on 
topics of such magnitude, never before existed. I ordered back 
the remaining fifty-nine. 

A new edition was, however, called for, notwithstanding the 
discouraging coldness and culpable indifference of the members 
of the government. I used all possible expedition, and pub" 
lished, on the 11th of January, one thousand copies. 

The success of this edition exceeded that of the first. In five 
weeks there were not twenty copies unsold. And a day or two 
previous to the blessed, thrice-blessed news of peace, foreseeing 
the demand would require another edition, I contracted with a 
printer, to execute a third. When the joyful tidings came, I 
thought the public would no longer feel any interest in the 
work, and for a time abandoned the idea of republication. But 
I was mistaken. The demand increased. I printed a new edi- 
tion, which was published on the 13th of April, and was sold 
out in about three months, except a few copies in Georgetown, 
and elsewhere. 

As the eastern states were the scene, where such a work was 
most necessary, I was very desirous of giving it a circulation 
there. I saw, that to afford it a fair chance, it ought to be print- 
ed in Boston ; for otherwise only a few hundred at most, of my 
editions, would ever reach that quarter : and no person there 
being interested in the disposal of them, the effects of the book 
would be greatly circumscribed. I therefore offered the editors 
of the Chronicle, the Patriot, the Yankee, my friend Mr. Caleb 
Bingham, and Mr. A. Dunlap, the gratuitous privilege of print- 



PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. 33 

ing an edition, jointly ; merely on condition of presenting ten 
per cent, of the copies to persons unable to purchase. The two 
first, and Mr. B. declined ; they probably doubted the success 
of the enterprise. The editors of the Yankee, and Mr. Dunlap, 
jointly printed an edition, which, although it did not appear till 
after the peace, has been some time wholly sold off. 

Were the spirit of persecution in possession of as sovereign 
authority over the axe, or the gibbet, as formerly ; I should most 
indubitably be destroyed, for the very strong and unpalatable 
truths in this book, if I had " as manif lives as a cat^'> or " as 
one Plutarch is said to have had.'''' But thank heaven, those 
days are past. The spirit, however, remains. But it can only 
sate its malice, by slander and abuse of a man's character ; and 
by attempts to destroy his business, or his prospects in life. But 
to a man who has passed fifty-five, with a constitution never very 
good, and now considerably impaired, it is not very important 
what befals him, in the short remainder of life. When tender 
women, some of them pregnant, have freely gone to the stake, or 
to the gibbet, for dogmas, which they could not understand ; it 
does not require a very extraordinary degree of heroism, for a 
man of my age, to run any risques, of person or character, that 
may attend a bold appeal to the good sense of the nation, with a 
view to acquire the benediction, pronounced in the declaration, 
" Blessed are the peace makers." 

*** It would be ung-enerous not to acknowledge the obligation I am under 
to sundry gentlemen, tor documents of various kinds. Richard Hush, Cesar A. 
Rodney, Joseph Nourse, Adam Seybert, and Benjamin Homans, Esq'rs. have 
been uncommonly kind and attentive. Whatever they have had in their pow- 
er, they have furnished. To Mr. Duponccau's pamphlets I have had free ac- 
cess. From Mr. Blnns I have liad various newspapers highly serviceable. And 
Mr. Andrew Dunlap, late of Boston, now of Cincinatti, furnished me with the 
chief pai-t of tlie extracts from the Boston papers. I'hese gentlemen, and 
others whose names I need not mention, will, I hope, accept this public testi' 
mony of my gratitude. 

PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. 

Philadelphia, Dec. 18, 1815. 

LITTLE more than thirteen months have elapsed since the 
iirst appearance of this work, and, contrary to all my calcula- 
tions, a seventh edition has been called for. The reader will, I 
trust, do me the justice to believe that I am fully sensible of the 
public indulgence. 

Regarding myself bound to render the Book as perfect as in 
my power, I have availed myself of all the information and do- 
cuments I could collect, and made a number of corrections and 
alterations, as I have done in the former editions. 

To this edition I have added some new chapters, at the close, 
on subjects whose importance will probably justify me in pre- 
senting,them to the view of my fellow-citizenp. 



PREFACE 

TO THE EIGHTH EDITION. 

Philadelphia^ July 1, 181 T. 

THE very great public favour and indulgence extended to the 
Olive Branch, enables me to lay it for the eighth time before my 
fellow citizens, in a little more than two years and a half from 
its first appearance. 

The contemplation of this work affords three sources of as 
high gratification as can be enjoyed by a rational being, actuated 
by liberal or public-spirited motives : — the satisfaction, whereof 
nothing can deprive me, of having employed the slender talents 
I possess, in the most sincere and ardent efforts to serve this 
country ; — the belief, founded on the concurring opinions of 
numbers of our best citizens, of both parties, that those efforts 
havenotbeen wholly unsuccessful; and, finally, the general appre- 
ciation of those efforts and their results, to their utmost extent — 
and probably far beyond it. Greater good fortune cannot attend 
any intellectual production. It is a truly rich reward, and far 
exceeds all the calculations, that could have been previously 
formed by the most extravagantly sanguine temper. 

To this Edition various additions have been made.* They 
are written in the same independent style as the former part of 
the work. I feel as little disposed as ever to sacrifice the cause 
of truth at the shrine of party or faction. 

A respectable gentleman, of federal politics, has given as his 
opinion, that though I struck both parties severely, yet I struck 
the federalists with the right hand, and the democrats with the 
left — and, as a man can strike harder with the right hand than 
with the left, that I was more severe upon the former than the 
latter. 

If this be true, as it probably is, a satisfactory reason can be 
given for it, whollv free from any sinister intention. Recent or 
passing events, whether pleasurable or distressing, make far 
more impression than those of remote date, although greater in 
magnitude. This is a trait in the human character, that cannot 
have escaped the observation of the most superficial. It is there- 
fore perfectly natural, that as the great sin of federalism — a sedi- 
tious and dangerous opposition to government, Avhich occupies 
so much of this Book — was in actual operation while I was writ- 
ing, it should have been the subject of more severe animadver- 

• The last ten chapters. 



PREFACE TO THE TENTH EDITION. 35 

sion, than the sins of the democrats, which, though very great, 
were, in general, inferior in magnitude, and more remote in point 
of time. 

Moreover, I was strongly impressed with the opinion, and 
acted under its influence, that the course pursued by the leaders 
of the federalists, in which they were blindly and submissively 
followed by the mass of the party, led directly to anarchy, insur- 
rection, and civil war, with all their horrors. This opinion re- 
mains unchanged. It has been the subject of serious and deli- 
berate reflexion. And the more 1 reflect on it, the more thorough 
is my conviction. I am far from believing that such was the in- 
tention of the party generally, or even of their leaders. But I 
repeat, what I have frequently stated in this Book, that when 
popular violence is once loosed from the restraints of law and 
constitution. Omniscience alone can foretell the event, and Om- 
nipotence alone set bounds to the devastation. Thousands of 
horrible pages of the dreary and sickening history of mankind, 
bear the most overwhelming testimony to this all-important 
truth. 

M. CAREY. 



PREFACE 

TO THE TENTH EDITION.* 



Philadelphia, 3fay 25, 1818. 

TO this Edition no additions are made. A number of cor- 
rections, most of them of no very great importance, appeared 
requsite, and have accordingly been adopted. 

• The ninth Editionj of 1000 copies, was published in Winchester last sum- 
mer. 



contp:nts. 



Chap. Pag'e. 

1. Crisis of afiairs of the United States. Dangers of parties and factions. 
Similarity of our situation to that of France, Italy, and England, previous to 
their civil wars, ...-.-. 37 

2. Errors of the Democratic Party. Federal Constitution. Opposition to 

a Navy. Alien and Sedition Law. Jay's Treaty, - . . 46 

3. Monroe and Pinkney's Treaty with England. Separation of the States. 
Treasonable Publications. Embargo. Non-intercourse, - - 53 

4. Bank of the United States. Miserable Policy not to renew the Charter, 58 

5. Armistice proposed by Admiral Warren, - - - - 59 

6. Appointment of Mr. Gallatin as Minister to treat with Great Britain. 
Negociation at Gottenburg. Itecent neglect of due preparations, - 63 

7. General Wilkinson and General Hampton. Proceedings of Congress. 
Lamentable torpor, delay, and indecision. Neglect of Public Opinion, 67 

8. Captm'e of Washington. Causes. Mismanagement. Fort Washington. 
Trial of Captain Dyson. E.xtraordinary Sentence. Loans. Injury of Pubjic 
Credit. Retrospection, - - - - - - - 7Cy 

9. The Federalists. Federal Convention and Constitution. Complainta 
of want of Energy in the Constitution. Disorganizers and Jacobins. Alien 
and Sedition Laws, - ..... 81 

10. British Orders in Council, November, 1793. Enforcement of the 
Rule of 1756, ........ 84 

11. Extracts from the Boston Memorial to Congress, - - 88 

12. Extracts from the New York Memorial, - . - 89 

13. Extracts from the Memoi'ial of the Merchants of Philadelphia, 91 

14. Extracts from the Baltimore Memorial, , - . - 93 

15. Extracts from the Memorials of Newhaven and Newburyport, 95 

16. Extracts from the Memorial of the Merchants of Salem, Ms. . 96 

17. Reflections on the Memorials. Uniform call for Redress. Uniform 
Pledge of Support, - . . , . . - 99 

18. Characterof Merchants, by Edmund Burke. Illiberal and unfounded. 
Merchants as various in character as other classes of men, - - 101 

19. British Depredations brought on the tapis in the Senate of the Uni- 
ted States. Condemnatory Resolutions passed, . . - 106 

20. Attack on tlie Chesapeake. Proclamations iuterdicting our har- 
bours to the British, - ..... 108 

21. Blockade of the Coast from the Elbe to Brest. Berlin Decree, - 115 

22. Orders in Council of November 11, 1807. Milan Decree, . 117 

23. Tiie Orders in Council of November 11, 1807, defended by Ameri- 
cans. Founded on the untenable plea of American acquiescence in the 
Berlin Decree. Enquiry into their Causes and ConsequenceSjby A. Baring, 
Esq., .M.P. ........ 122 

24. Embargo. Situation of American Commerce. Factious clamour. Em- 
bargo a wise, prudent, and necessary measure, ... 129 

25. Enqtiiiy into the Constitutionality of the Act for Enforcing the Em- 
bargo. Compared with acts passed during the pi-esidency of General Wash- 
ington and John Adams, - - - . . . 136 

26. Patriotic Procedings, ..... 141 

27. John Ileniy's Mission to the Eastern States. Instmctions from the 
Governor General of British America, ..... 143 

28. Embargo Repealed. British and French vessels interdicted from en- 
tering our harbours. Importations from both countries prohibited, - 158 

29. Embargo recommended to Congress by Merchants of New York, 160 



CONTENTS. 

Chap. Page. 

30. The Erskine Arrangement. A liberal and magTianimous procedure. 
Loudly applauded by all Parties. Rejected by England. Wonderful in- 
consistency, ....--. 162 

31. Impressment of American seamen. Plea of James Madison. Of John 
Quincy Adams. Of William Cobbett. Of Weekly Register, - _ - 180 

32. Impressment during the administration of General Washington. Let- 
ter from T. Jefferson to T. Pickering. From Mr. Jay From T. Pickering. 
From RufusKing, .-..--- 184 

33. Impressment during the administration of Mr. Adams. Letter from 
Rufus King. From Silus Talbot. Fi'om Timothy Pickering. Instructions of 
Judge Marshall to Rufus King, - - - - - 186 

34. Mr. Liston's Projet of a Convention respecting Deserters. Objected 
to by Mr. Pickering, Mr. Stoddart, Mi-. Wolcott, and Mr. M'Henry. Re- 
jected, ........ 193 

35. Horrors of impressment, as submitted to Congress, by Timothy Pick- 
ering, secretary of state, .-..-- 195 

36. Impressment during the administration of Mr. Jefferson. Letter from 
Rufus King. Arrangement with Lord St. Vincent rejected by Mr. King, 196 

37. Documents on Impressment continued, ... 200 

38. Subject of Impressment concluded, . - - . 206 

39. An apology for an egregious error committed by the writer, on the 
subject of preparation for war. The whole session one continued series of 
preparations. Nineteen acts bearing strong notes of martial arrangement, 217 

40 Reproaches of the minority against the imbecility of the majority. 
Pernicious consequences of newspaper misrepresentation. British deceiv- 
ed by their friends, ...... 220 

41. War proceedings in Congress. Yeas and Nays. Inexplicable conduct, 224 

42. Declaration of War. Violently opposed, ... 227 

43. Peace Party. Composed of warlike materials. Repeated clamour for 
war, - - - _ 229 

44. Inquiry into the Justice of the War, . - . . 236 

45. Consideration of the Orders in Council continued. Strong and im- 
equivocal reprobation of them by James Lloyd and James Bayard, Esqrs. 
and Governor Griswold. Extract of a letter from Harrison Gray Otis, Esq. 242 

46. Inquiry into the Justice of the War continued, - 25i3 

47. Turbulence of Boston. Boston acts on Massachusetts. Massachu- 
setts acts on the other Eastern States. Jealousies and Discord sedulously 
excited. Hatefld Picture of the Southern States, - - - 253" 

48. Arrogance of the Claims of the Eastern States. Statistical Tables. 
Comparison of the exports of the several states, ... 259 

49. Comparison of the exports, foreign and domestic, of the different 
states, from 1791 to 1813. Glance at tonnage, ... 268 

50. Another source of excitement among the citizens of the Eastern 
States. Duties on imports. Statistics. Southern States pay very nearly as 
much as the Eastern. Wonderful Delusion, ... - 275 

51. Fallacy of the opinion of any hostility in the Southern against the 
Eastern States. Commercial and agricultural States mutually dependent 

on, and beneficial to each other, ..... 279 

52. Money the sinews of war. Associations to prevent the success of the 
Loans. Efforts to bankrupt the government, ... 285 

53. Smuggling earned to excess in Boston. Specie abundant there. Op- 
pressive drutls on New York. Arrangements between persons in Canada 
and in Boston, ....... 292 

54. Subject continued. Brief statement of facts, - - 300 

55. Massachusetts compared with Tennessee. The blind leading the 
blind. Profits of trade 50 per cent. ! Road to Ruin, - - 302 

56. Pulpit Politics. Prostitution of the Sacred Functions. Massacre on 
board the Ocean. An Anthology of Sedition, ... 305 

57. Parlies change Name and Character. Jacobins. Definition. Unholy 
Struggle for Power, the cause of all our difficulties, - - 312 



Contents; 

Chap. . Page- 

58. lUiberality of Prejudices against Foreigners. Ungrateful on the part 

of America. Irishmen and Frenchmen peculiar objects of disUke, - 314 

59. Address to the Federalists of the United States, - . 321 

APPENDIX. No. I. 

60. Orders in Council. Restrictive System. Impolicy of the British Mi- 
Jiistiy. Abstract of the Examinations before the House of Commons. Ruin- 
ous Effects of the PoUcy of Great Britsun on tlie vital interests of that Na- 
tion, . - 329 

61. England said to be struggling for her Existence. This no palliation 

©f her outrages on neutral Nations Attack on Copenhagen, - 341 

62. The clamour raised by the Eastern States on the subject of Repre- 
sentation, unfounded. The result of factious delusion, - * - 346 

63. Statistics continued. Slave Representation fairly stated, - 348 

64. Inquiry into the charge against tlie Southern States of destroying 
Commerce to promote Manufactures, . - - . - 354 

6.5. iMilitia Defence. System of Classification proposed in Congi'ess. Re- 
jected. Awful outcry, ...... 355 

66. Right of Society to coerce, and duty of citizens to afford. Military 
Service, ......-- 358 

67. Power of Congress to call out the Militia. The usual mode of draft- 
ing oppressive, unequal, and unjust, .... 363 

68. Inefficiency of Militia generally. Extravagantly expensive. General 
Washington's testimony on the subject full and complete, - - 367 

69. Conscription or Classification of the Militia to fill up the Army, the 
Hkost impartial and efficacious mode. A measui'c of the Amei'ican Revolu- 
tion. Plan borrowed by France. General Knox's Plan, - - S77 

70. Gerrymanderism. Derivation of this queer name. Political Legerde- 
main. A grand discovery how to enable a minority to rule the majority. 
Joint and concurrent votes. General ticket, .... 383 

71. State of Representation in Massachusetts. Wretched System of Re- 
presentation in Maryland an I Virginia. Rotten Boroughs, - - 387 

72. A Wonderful Contrast. " Let every soul be subject to the higher 
powers." — Rev. Dr. Morse — Rev. Dr. Parish — Rev. Dr. Osgood. Invoca- 
tion to War. Governor Oilman, - - - - 390 

73. View of the prosperity of the United States, during the various ad- 
ministrations. Mighty errors prevalent on this topic, - - 396 

74' Miscellaneous Facts and Observations, .... 411 

APPENDIX. No. II. 

75. Separation of the States. Civil War. Cromwehsm, - - 421 

76. Abuse of the Freedom of the Press. Attacks on Monarchs and Na- 
tions of Europe, ....... 430 

77. Shall we soon have another war ? The vulnerable part of Gi-eat Bri- 
tain. The late war. Defective Legislation. American Seamen, - 435 

78. Congi'essional Caucuses for President and Vice-President, - 439 

APPENDIX. No. m. 

79. Western insurrection, - . - - - - 455 

80. Blue lights; Congress, - - - - - 407 

81. Faction. A most tremendous scourge, . - . - 463 

82. Rejection of Monroe and Pinkney's treaty, ... 469 

83. Hartford Convention, .-...- 473 

84. Freedom of the seas. Prophets. Sedition, ... 477 

85. Self-created Societies, - - - - - - 480 

86. American magnanimity, generosity, and public spirit, - 486 

87. Miscellaneous articles, ...»,» 490 

88. Conscription. Impressment, - ~ • - - 495 



THe 

POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

Crisis of the affairs of the United States. Dangers of parties 
and factions. Similarity of our situation to that of France^ 
Italy ^ and England^ previous to their civil wars. 

IN the year 1814, the situation of the United States was 
highly critical. Party and faction, the bane and destruction of 
the ancient republics,* were earned to such an extravagant ex- 
tent, as to endanger the public tranquillity — and menace us with 
civil war, the greastest scourge that ever afflicted mankind. Un- 
ceasing efforts were used to excite our citizens to open resis- 
tance of the government.! The principal scenes of these disor- 
ders lay in the eastern states ; but in almost every portion of the 
union, persons were constantly employed in inflaming the public 
mind, and preparing it for commotions. f Thousands and tens 
of thousands of our citizens, upright, honest, and honourable in 
private life, were so deluded by the madness of party and faction 
as to believe, that the defeat, the disgrace, anrl the disasters of our 
armies:}: — the destruction of public credit \ — (as leading to the 

• An idea has been propaj^ated by superficial writers, and generally be- 
lieved by superficial readers, that parly and fiiction are peculiar to republics. 
Never was there a greater error. Tl-ere is hardly a body of men, how small 
or insignificant soever, that is not dij^tuibed more or less by party and faction. 
Within the last ten years, one half, at least, of the Religious Congregations in 
Philadelphia, have been distracted by discord and faction, which, in various 
instances, have been carried to the extreme length of absolute separation. 
And, to mount iiigher, who can forget the violent factions at the commence- 
ment of the reign of George III, when England was on the very verge of in- 
surrection ? and let me add the religious crusade of lord George Gordon, 
which was the offspring of faction, and terminated in enkindling thirty-six 
fires at once in London : of wliich city the mob had undisturbed possession 
for several days. All the felons, and other tenants of the prisons, had their 
chains knocked off, and were let loose once more to prey on the public. Du- 
ring the sixteenth century, France was as much harassed and distressed by 
{action as any republic, ancient or modern, has ever been. The enumeration 
were endless. Let this slight sketch suffice. 

t These topics will be fully discussed in specific chapters at the close of 
tills work. 

\ To some this will seem impossible. It certainly appears incredible. But 
many things appears incredible, wluch are nevertheless true- And it is capa- 
ble of the most complet? judicial juoof, that gentlemen, highly estimable in 






SB POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH [chaf. 1. 

expulsion from their stations of the highest public functionaries 
duly chosen by the people) — were all " a consummation devout- 
ly to be wished"— and the certain means ol procuring a speedy 
and honourable peace, which we could not fail to obtain from the 
magnanimity of Great Britain, provided we removed those pub- 
blic officers, whom, according to them, she had so much reason 
to execrate. 

The uniform voice of history in vain proclaimed the generosi- 
tycf nations towards each other tobe a nunenti'y ; that the terms 
of a treaty are more or less favourable or injurious in propor- 
tion to the relative strength, and energy, and means of annoyance; 
or defence, of the parties ; that powerful nations have almost al- 
ways taken advantage of the feet>leness of their adversaries ; and 
that the, certain road to a speedy and honourable peace has 
throughout all ages been to wage war with the utmost decision 
tmd effect. 

Were history wholly silent on this topic, the inherent propen- 
sities of human nature, properly explored, would satisfy every 
rational mind of the soundness of these political maxims. They 
are fair deductions of reason and common sense, to which the 
universal experience of mankind bears testimony. Every nation, 
in its periods of debility, has been obliged occasionally to submit 
to injustice. Every nation, possessing the power to perpetrate in- 
justice, has more or les;* availed itself of the opportunity. 

The fears of civil war were regarded as visionary — as the 
wild effusions of a disordered brain. They werafelt by a small 
minority. And, were the correctness of opinions to be tested 
by the numbers who entertained them, they must have appeared 
most miserably erroneous. But this conclusion is unwarranted 
by history. It has been a thousand times asserted, and will be 
as often repeated, that the people of the United States were too 
enlightened to commit such a fatal error, knowing too well the 
value of the blessings they enjoyed, to sacrifice them so absurd- 
ly. Such a delusion was pardonable a few years previous to 
that period. But our then recent, stupendous follies ought to 
have wholly dispelled it. We had, in many cases, displayed as 
much insanity as the history of the world exibits in any of its 
pages. 

private life, have thanked God most fervently for the disgraceful capture of 
our armies* Others liave prayed to God that our soldiers who entered Cana- 
da might be slaughtered. This is one of the many strange and unaccountable 
instances in which our history is utterly unlike those of the other nations of 
the earth. It is really a sui generis. I feel pretty confident that no man of cha- 
racter or worth in England or France, ever rejoices at the disgrace or disas- 
ters of his country. But I blush to tell it, the disgrace of our armies has 
been repeatedly a subject of as much exultation in our coffee-houses and our 
newspapers, as in the city of London. I could name individuals of the ut- 
most worth in all the social relations, except that which they bear to their coun- 
try, whose satisfaction at the distresses and embarrassments of our govern- 
ment, has at least equalled that of lord Castlereagh. 



CHAP. 1] DANGERS OF FACTIONS. 39 

Danger is not diminished by shutting our eyes against its ap- 
proach, or by denying its existt nee. This would be a cheap 
price to pay tor security. But it is not to be purchased thus. 
And those who seriously weigh the causes that led to the civil 
wars which desolated France, under the house of Valois; Eng- 
land under Charles I ; and Italy for entire centuries, with hard- 
,ly any intermission ; will be convinced that our security was by 
no means so well founded as was generally supposed. In num- 
berless points of view, our situation and our proceedings bore a 
very strong analogy to those of the three nations to which I have 
referred, immediately previous to their respective civil wars. 
Whoever reads with due attention Davila's history of France, 
Machiavel's of Florence, or Clarendon's of the rebellion under 
Charles I. will be astonished at the near resemblance.* 

The difference between the state of the country a few years 
previous, and at the period under review, was indubitably far 
greater than from where we then stood to insurrection, and sepa- 
ration, and civil war. While thrre were so many combustible 
materials scattered abroad, and such unceasing pains taken to in- 
flame the public mind, very trivial accidents might have enkind- 
led a conflagration. — Once unhinge a government — once let 
loose mankind from the restraints of law and constitution— an.d 
the human mind cannot readily calculate the terrible result. 

It was said, that those who had for years urged the propriety, 
and necessity, and advantages to the eastern states, of a dissolu- 
tion of the union, did not intend to proceed thus far ; and that 
they held out these threats in terrorem to awe the administration. 
There is the strongest possible reason to believe that this was a 
pernicious, a fatal error — and that the leaders of the malcontents 
were perfectly serious in their views of a separation. How of- 
ten had the churches echoed with the insurrectional, the trea- 
sonable, the fanatical, the rebellious cry, " WHERE IS OUR 
MOSES ? Where is the rod of his miracles P Where is our 
Aaron ? Have we no Moses to lead us out of the land of Egypt ?'"\ 
Fatuity itself could not mistake the meaning of this species of 
declamation. But even were the leaders merely threatening, it 
afforded us no security against the ruinous result. Those who 

• The divisions, and distractions, and factions, that prevailed among, aud 
the bulclieries alternately perpetrated on each other by, the contending fac- 
tions in the Grecian and Italian republics, are ably and instructively detailed 
in the defence of the American Constitutions bythe ex-president John Adams. 
This work has not had the fate it merited. It has been laid aside, and is ai- 
most forgotten. Yet there is no work extant which contains more useful les- 
sons for an American — none in which the horrors of faction are more forcibly 
displayed — aone that our statesmen and politicians ought to study more care- 
fully. A few exceptionable passages, selected here and there, have been 
employed for the purpose of decrying it, and with too much success. But 
there never yet was a human production that might not be condemned to 
the flames by the same mode of trial. 

t See the sermons of the reverend Messrs. Osgood, Parish, are Gardiner, 



40 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 1. 

raise the storm of civil commotions, possess not the power at 
pleasure to allay its violence — lo say with effect, " thus far shalt 
thou go, and no farther.'' This theory was iully exemplified in 
the civil wars of England betwen Charles I. and his parliament, 
and likewise in the French revolution. The latier, of which 
nearly all the early leaders perished in jails and on scaffolds, is a 
very strong case. Very few of those distinguished and illustri- 
ous men contemplated a recourse to arms. They hoped tor a 
bloodless triumph over tyranny. But they were borne down 
and destroyed by violent and sanguinary men, or rather mon- 
sters, whom their proceedings released from restraint, but 
whom their utmost efforts could not check or controul. 

Never had brighter prospects shone on a nation than those 
that shone on the United States. Never had a nation been more 
highly blest. Never had the security of person and propertv— - 
of liberty, civil and religious — been attained by such easy sacri- 
fices. Never had the weight of government pressed more light- 
ly. It was not felt. Never had the fondest theories of philoso- 
phers and lovers of mankind, been more completely realized. 

Our situation was ver}- analagous to that of a youth who inhe- 
rits a large estate, and, unacquainted with the difficulty ol its ac- 
quisition, cannot form an estimate of its value. This can only be 
done by a due consideration of the condition of those destitute 
of the advantages of fortune. He becomes a prodigal. He la- 
vishes away his treasures. He only then begins to appreciate 
them, when they are irretrievablv squandered. This was pre- 
cisely our case. We had not sufiiciently compared our situation 
with that of the mass of mankind. We had not taken a full view 
of the glorious, the inestimable advantages we possessed. We 
had the most noble inheritance that ever fell to the lot of a nation, 
and had not duly appreciated our happiness. We had jeopardi- 
zed it most wantonly and fatuitously. We were on the verge of 
its total loss. A little further progress iu folly and madness, and 
we should have been undone. We had, by rapid strides, ap- 
proached the banks of the Rubicon. Whether we should ])lunge 
ifn, and ford the stream, or, struck with a due sense of our errors 
and our danger, make a retrograde movement, and regain the 
elysium whence we started, was in the womb of time. Heaven 
directed us to the blessed alternative ! Beyond the stream verges 
a dreary desert, where anarchy and civil war hold their terrific 
reign, with all their long train of horrors, and where the devious 
paths lead directly to ruthless despotism. 

It was time therefore to make a solemn pause — to retrace 
our steps — and, since we refused to profit by the sad experience 
of other ages and nations, to avail ourselves of our own. By 
honest endeavours — by abating the odious violence of party spi- 
rit — by mutual compromise — by rending asunder the odious, 
the degrading, the pernicious yoke of the violent men whose in. 



x^Hxv. 1.] SEDITIOUS PUBLICATIONS. 41 

fluence and prosperity depended on public commotions — we 
might happily regain the ground we had lost — we might dispel 
the delusion that was leading us to temporal perdition. 

To vindicate myself from the charge of folly, in those gloomy 
apprehensions and anticipations, I submit to the reader a few 
specimens of the unceasing efforts which for years iiad been 
made to enkindle the flames of civil war. That wc were not in- 
volved in it, is not justly chargeable to the want of a due degree 
of labour and industry. Never was more activity displayed — 
never was a cause more sedulously or ably advocated. And 
never was there less scruple about the meaijs, provided the end 
could be accomplished. 

"On or before the fourth of July, if James Madison is not out of ofiice, a 
ne%<jforvi of govermnent iviU be in operation in the eastern section of the tcnion. — 
Instantly cifer, the contest in many of the states wiU be, whether to adhere to the old, 
or join the new government. Like every thing else foretold years ago, and which 
is verified every day, this warning will be also ridiculed as visionary. Be it 
so. But Mr. Madison cannot complete his term of service, if tlie war con- 
tinues. — It is not possible ; and if he knew human nature, he would see it."* 

" Is there a federalist, a patriot in America, who conceives it his duty to 
shed his blood for Bonaparte, for Madison, for Jefferson, and that HOST OF 
RUFFIANS in Congresa, who have set tlieir faces against US for years, and 
spirited up the brutal part of the populace to destroy us? Not one — 
Shall we then any longer be held in slavery, and driven to desperate poverty, 
by such a graceless faction ? Heaven forbid. "f 

" If at the present Tnoineni, no symptotns of civil viar appear, THEY CER- 
TAINLY WILL SOON, unless the courage of the i\iar party fail them^." 

" A CIVIL WAR becomes as certain as the events that happen according to 
the inewn laivs and established course of nature-"^ 

*' If we would preserve the liberties, by that struggle [the American re- 
volution] so dearly purchased, the call for RESISTANCE a^^ainn the usur- 
pations of our own government is as urgent as it wasformerly against those of our 
■mother country"^ 

" It the impending negociation with Great Britian is defeated by Insidious 
artifice ; if the friendly and conciliatory proposals of tlie enemy should not, 
from French subserviency, or views of sectional ambition, be met throughout 
with a spirit of moderation and sincerity, so as to terminate the infamous 
Avar which is scattering its horrors around us, and arrest tlie calamities and 
distress of a disgraced country, it is necessary to apprise you that such conduct 
'will be no longer borne with. The injured States will be compelled, by every motive 
of duty, interest and honour ,- by one manly exertion of the:r strength to dash into 
atoms the bonds of tyrdnny. It will then be too late to retract. The die will be 
cast — Frei dom preserved.''^ 

" A SEPARATION OF THE ST ATES w////!'e an inevitable result. Motives 

numerous ana urgent will deviaiid that measure. Js they originate in oppression, 

the oppressors inust be responsible for the momentous and contingent events, arising 

from the DISSOLUTION OF THb. PRESENT CONFEDERACY, cmdthe 

"erection of SEPARATE GOVERNMENTS. It will be their work. While 

• Federal Republican, November 7, 1814. f Bo'ston Gazette. 

I Sermon by David Osgood, D. D. Pastor of the church of Medford, de- 
livered June 26, 1812, page 9. •§ Idem, page 15." 

II Discourse dehvered before the lieutenant governor, the council, and the. 
two houses composing the legislature of the commonweallh of Massachu- 
hetts, May 31, 1809. By David Osgood, D. D. p. 25. 

% " Northern grievances, set forth in a letter to James Madison, by a 
Nortli American." Published May, 1814, and circulated with great indus- 
ti'v, throughout the Eastern states and New York. P. 4. 



42 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. L 

posterity will admire the independent spirit of {lie Eastei-n section of our 
country, and with sentiments of {gratitude, enjoy the fruits of their firmness 
and wisdom, the descendants of the South and West will have reason to 
curse the infatuation and folly of your councils"* 

" B dd and resolute, when they ste/i forth in the sacred cause ofjreedom and in- 
dependence, the northern people will secure their object. No obstacle can hnpede 
them. No force can withstand thc'r powerful arm. The most numerous armies 
noill melt before their vianly strength Does not the pag'e of history instruct you, 
that the feeble debility of tiie South never could face the vig'orous activity of 
the North ? Do not the events of past ajjes remind you of the valuable truth, 
that a sit-.gle spark of Northern liberty, especially when enlightened by congenial 
commerce, will explode a whoJe atmosphere of sultry Southern de&potism? You 
well know the termination of the expedition of Xerxes, with his hundreds 
of thousands, against the Greeks ! The commercial Athenians taught the 
debilitated tyrant of Asia, on the plains of Marathon, and at the straits of 
Salamis, of what exertions feedom is capable, when roused by oppression. 
The hardy Macedonians not only defeated and dispersed countless hordes 
of Southern effeminacy, but traversed their country at pleasure "f 

" When such are tiie effects of oppression upon men resolved not to siib<^ 
mit, as displayed in the North and South of Europe, and in all ages of the 
world, do you flatter yourself with its producing a different operation in this 
eountry ? Do you think the energies of Northern freemen are to be tamely 
smothered ? Do you imagine they will allow themselves to be trampled upon 
■with impunity? And by whom? The Southern and Western states! by men 
whose united efforts are not sufficient to keep in order their own enslaved 
population, and defend their own frontiers ? by warriors whose repeated at- 
tempts at invasion of a neighbouring province, have been disgracefully foiled 
by a handful of disciplined troops! by generals, monuments of arrogance 
and folly ! by councils the essence of corruption, imbecility and madness ! 

" The aggregate strength of the South and West, if brought against the North, 
toould be driven into the ocean, or bad to their own sultry wilds ; and they might 
ihink themsehes fortunate if they escaped other punishment than a defeat, which 
their temerity would merit. While the one would Strive to enslave, the other 
would fight for freedom. Wliile the councils of the one would be distracted 
with discordant interests ; the decisions of the other would be directed by 
one soul. Beware ! Pause ! before you take the fatal p!unge."| 

"You have carried your oppressions to the utmost stretch. We will no 
longer submit. Restore the Constitution to its purity. Give us security for 
the future, indemnity for the past. Abolish every tyrannical law. Make an 
immediate and honourable peace. Revive our commerce. Increase our navy. 
Protect our seamen. Unless you fomply with these just demands, without delay, 
we will withdraw from the Union, scatter to the viinds the bonds of tyranny, and 
transmit to posterity that Liberty purchased by the H evolution,"^ 

"Americans! PREPARE YOUR ARMS : you will soon be called to use 
them. VVe must use them for tlie emperor of France, OR FOR OUR- 
SELVES. It is but an individual who now points to this ambiguous alterna- 
tive But Mr. Madisa.! and tiis cabal may rest assured, there is in the hearts 
of many thousands in this abused and almost ruined countiy, a sentiment and 
energy to illuiitrate the distinction when his madness shall call it into action."j| 

" Old Mas.'ac'.usett.f is as terrible to the Am.erican, now, as she wag to the Brit- 
ish cabinet in 177i> ; lor America, too, has her Butes and her Norths. Let then 
the comviercial states breast tjiemsehes to the shock, and know^thattotliemsclves 
they must look for safety. All party bickerings must be sacrificed on the al- 
tar of patriotism. Tiicn, and not till i'.en, shall they huotible the pride and ambi- 
tion cf Virginia, whose sirrngth lies in their weakness ; and chastise the insolence of 
those tnadvien of Kentucky and Tenne:>ee, who aspire to the government of these 
states, atifl threaten Hj ■.nxohe the country in all the liorror^ ofwar."^ 

• Idem, page 9. f Idem, page 1?. \ Ide.m, page 12. 

§ Idem, page 15. jj Boston Repertory. 

•f New York Com.nnercial Advertiser. 



CHAf. 1.] CONSEQUENCES OF FACTION. 43 

The language of the writers is plain and unequivocal. It ad- 
mits of no mistake or misconstructivn. That they intended to 
produce insurrection and dissolution of the union, unless they 
and their friends were enabled to seize upon the government, re- 
gardless of the frightful consequei ces, it would require consum- 
mate impudence to deny ; it would be folly, or insanity to dis- 
believe. What might ultimately be their success, it was impos- 
sible to foresee. Every thing depended on the course pursued 
by those who had an interest in the public welfare. If they were 
not wanting to themselves and to their country, we were sure to 
rise triumphant over our difficulties and embarrassments. But 
if the then prevailing wonderful apathy continued ; if we slug- 
gishly remained with our arms folded, while our situation be- 
came daily more awful and alarming ; ruin was inevitable. We 
should have afforded one of the most striking instances in histo- 
ry, of premature decay and decrepitude. The Lord in his 
mercy has averted such an awful iate ! 

Reliance was placed by those who denied the existence of the 
danger here described, upon the sober character of the nation. 
They regarded that character as a guarantee against civil war. 
I was well aware of this circumstance. I allowed it a due share 
of influence and importance. But the strong inference drawn 
from it, was unwarranted by history. And let it be observed, 
once for all, that in government, or politics, the only unerring 
guide is history, to the neglect of whose lessons may be ascribed 
more than two thirds of our errors and follies. 

The Athenians were a polished and refined people. No na- 
tion, in ancient times, ever excelled them in these respects. Yet 
thiy were occasionally seduced into the most frightful cruelties 
by their demagogues, their Cleons and other enrages. They 
often massacred their prisoners in cold blood, and long after the^ 
were taken. And the proscriptions and butcheries the adverse 
parties perpetrated on each other, wiicn they p;a3Cfd the ascen- 
dency, are frightful subjects of reflection, and to us hold out 
most invaluable warnings. 

No nation of modern Europe excelled France, few equalled 
her—- in courtesy — in mildness— in urbanity. And yet never 
did mankind exhibit themselves under a more hideous aspect-— 
never did they change nature more completely with wolves, ty- 
gers, and hyaenas, than the French have dene under Marat, 
Danton, Couthon, and Robespierre. These are axvful lesaona^ 
to xvh'ich those xvho xvcre lending their cid to tear down the pil- 
lars of government^ paid no tiHention. 

Man is the same every where, under the same excitements. 
We have our Cleons, and our Couthons, and our Dantons, and 
our Marats, and our Rol^spierres, and our Cron^A dls, who on- 
Iv required suitable occasions to have given scope to their fero- 
city. JVIild and gentle as is the American character generally. 



44 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cha». 1. 

the revolution in this country exhihitecf, in various places, where 
the parties were rancorously embittered against each other, many 
terrifying scenes. Prisoners were often hung up without trial 
by the parti zans on both sides. Men and women were treach- 
erously shot down in their houses*. And not unfrequently, 
private malice, to sate its rage, disguised itself under the cloak 
of public spirit. Let us ponder well on those circumstances. 
They are fraught with important admonitions. 

To apply a remedy to any evil, moral or physical, it is indis- 
pensably necessary to explore its nature — to ascertain its causes 
— and to trace its consequences. Any other procedure arises 
from error and folly, and is pregnant with defeat and disappoint- 
ment. 

With this view, and in the state of affairs just described, I re- 
spectfully solicited the public attention. I took a rapid retro- 
spective glance at the folly and guilt, which the factious and dis- 
cordant state of our country had generated. As far as in my 
power, I divested myself of party bias, and treated the sub- 
ject as if it belonged to another age or nation., Whatever er- 
rors I fell into, arose not from sinister intention : they were 
chargeable to inadvertence and human imperfection. On my 
freedom from partiality, I felt the more reliance, from my un- 
alterable conviction, that both the hostile parties that divide this 
country, and who regard each other with so much hatred and 
jealousy, had largely contributed towards the misfortunes that 
had befallen us — the melancholy change that had taken place in 
our situation — and the dangers that threatened us. It was im- 
possible for a candid mind to review the scenes through which 
we had passed for some years, without a thorough conviction, 
that each had been guilty of most egregious errors and follies, 
and occasionally of worse than error or folly ; and that when- 
ever the interests of the tuition and the interests of the party came 
in collision^ the former had been too frequently sacrificed,] by both 
federalists and democrats^ to the latter. No man who has any 
public spirit, can take a review of our history without feeling the 
deepest regret at the extent of the mischief this miserable sys- 
tem of conduct has produced. It has defeated many of the no- 
blest plans that the wisdom of the country has ever devised, and 
has prevailed to at least as great an extent here, as in almost any 
other country, or at anv other period of time. When the pre- 
sent generation sits for its picture to the iiistorian, it will form a 
strong contrast to that which is past and gone. The errors or 
follies, however, of cither party would have produced but little 
injury comparatively, had not those of the other conspired to 
give them malignity and effect. 

• See Ramsay's History of the Revolution in South Carolina. 

t This is one of Uie most lamentable and humiliating facts in our history. 



CHAP. 2.] PARTY HOSTILITY. -^ , 

From this exposition of my views, it was obvious I should 
steer a course very different from the generality of writers on 
political topics. With hardly a single exception, their object is, 
having espoused a party, to justify its supporters, and emblazon 
their acts, whether right or wrong ; and, if need be, 

"To make the worse appear the better cause." 

In pursuit of this object, their own partizans are all angels of 
light, — whose sublime and magnificent plans of policy are cal- 
culated to produce a political millennium ; and their opponents, 
demons incarnate, intent on the destruction of the best interests 
ot the country. These portraits are equally unjust and incor- 
rect. One is all beauty, with little resemblance to the pretended 
original — the other a hideous caricature equally foreign from 
honour, truth, and justice. ^=^:— -- ' - 

Among the frightful consequences resulting from this odious 
practice, a plain and palpable one presents itself. These hor- 
rible portraits engendered a satanical spirit ot hatred, malice, 
and abhorrence in the parties towards each other. Citizens of 
adverse opinions, whose views were perfectly pure and public 
spirited, were to each other objects of distrust and jealousy. 
They attached all possible guilt and wickedness — politicalat least 
— to their opponents- — and then detested the hobgoblins which 
they had themselves created. 

Society is not thus constituted. The mass of mankind of all 
parties, and in all ages, have meant well, except in periods of 
great depravity and corruption. And little more is necessary to 
produce harmony between them, than to understand each other 
correctly. But hostility is excited and perpetuated by the in- 
trigues and management of demagogues, whose influence and 
consequence dscjiend on fomenting discord, and who would sink 
into insignificance in times of tranq.iiUity. Mankind, as I have 
feinted, abhor each other, not for real existing differences, but for 
phantoms, the production of heated imaginations. Experience 
has frequently evinced, that the very plans of policy which par- 
ties out of power have reprobated and denounced as pernicious, 
they have pursued themselves as soon as they had vanquished 
their opponents, and seized on their places. And I believe 
every man of reflection will acknowlefige, that if the federalists 
had retained the administration in their hands, they would have 
advocated the rights of their country as firmly as their succes- 
sors have done ; and would probably hare adopted measures to 
resist the arrogant and destructive claims of England, similar to 
those, for which they have so strenuously, though not very hon- 
ourably or consistently, opposed the present administration. 

This is not mere supposition. It is historical fact. It will 
be seen in the sequel of this work, that the federalists took as 
high ground on the subject of impressment, and as firmly and 

O. B. 8 



46 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 2. 

patriotically resisted the unjust, the daring, the degrading pre- 
tensions of England, as Mr. Jefferson or Mr. Madison have 
done. Yet the resistance of the two latter presidents to this 
atrocious violence, has been among the strongest accusations al- 
ledged against them by their political adversaries. It is impos- 
sible to reflect on these topics without sighing over human weak- 
ness and folly. Federalism has in these transactions suffered a 
stain never to be effaced. 

CHAPTER II. 

Erfors of the Democratic Party. Federal Constitution. Oppo- 
sition to a Navy* Alien and Sedition Law . y ay'' s Treaty » 

In pursuance of my plan, I proceed to a review of those errors 
of the democratic party, which contributed to change the pros- 
pects of this country, and to darken the political horizon ; and 
I trust it will appear that I have not done them injustice in 
charging a large portion of the folly and guilt of the late state of 
affairs to their account. 

Federal Constitution. 

In the convention that formed the federal constitution, the de- 
mocratic party sowed the seeds of a premature dissolution of 
that instrument, and of the American confederacy. Regarding 
society more as it ought' to be, than as it has ever been, or is 
ever likely to be ; seduced by theories more plausible than solid 
• — applying to a free elective government, deriving all its powers 
and authorities from the voice of the people, maxims, and ap- 
prehensions, and precautions, calculated for the meridian ot 
monarchy, they directed all their efforts, and all their views, to- 
wards guarding against oppression from the federal government. 
Whatever of authority or power, they divested it of, to bestow 
on the state governments, or reserve to the people, was regarded 
as an important advantage. Against the federal government 
their fears and terrors were wholly directed. This was the hor- 
rible monster, which they laboured to cripple and chain down, 
to prevent its ravages. — The state governments they regarded 
Avith the utmost complacence, as the public protectors against 
this dreadful enemy of liberty. Had they succeeded in all their 
views, they would have deprived the general government of 
nearly all its efficiency. Alas ! litde did they suppose that our 
grand danger would arise from the usurpations of the state gov- 
ernments, some of which have since most awfully and treasonably 
jeopardized the union. Unfortunately, this party was too suc- 
cessful in the convention. Its energy and ardent zeal produ- 
ced a constitution, which, however admirably calculated for a 
period of peace, has been found incompetent in war to call forth, 
at once and decisively, the energies of the nation, and the ad- 



c«AP. 2.} NAVY. 47 

ministration of which has been repeatedly bearded, baffled, and 
thwarted by the state governments. Had the real federahsts in 
the convention succeeded, and made the general governmtnt 
somewhat more energetic — and endowed it with a small degree 
of power more than it pos;sesses — it might endure for centuries. 
What fate at present awaits it, is not in human wisdom to foresee. 
I fervently pray, with the celebrated father Paul, esto perpetua. 
This error of the democratic party arose from want of du- re- 
gard to the history of republics, and from a profound study of 
those political writers who had written under monarchial go- 
vernments, and whose views were wholly directed to guard 
against the danger of tyranny flowing from the overweening re- 
gal power, especially when possessed by men of powerful talents, 
and great ambition. The theories whence they derived their 
views of government were splendid and sublime — the produc- 
tions of men of great public spirit, and regard for the general 
welfare and happiness — and, had they been duly attempered by 
maxims drawn from experience, would have been of inestimable 

value. 

Establishment of a small Navy. 
The steady and factious opposition made by the democratic 
party, to the establishment of a small navy, adequate at least to 
the protection of our own coasts, has by the event been proved 
most wretched and miserable policy. It arose, as well from a 
spirit of hostility towards the party in power, as from a sordid 
and contemptible spirit of economy, which has in many instances 
disgraced and dishonoured this party, who have frequently pro- 
ved themselves, to use a very trite but very expressive proverb, 
'' penny wise — pound foolish." When we analyse the boasted 
spirit of economy, to which the opposition to a navy may be in 
part ascribed, we shall find it arises from two sources ; the one, 
men of narrow minds carrying into public, the huckstering habits 
of private life : the other, a base spirit of courting popularity 
by husbanding the public treasure, even on occasions when liber- 
ality is true economv, which as frequently occur in public affairs 
as in private life. IJoth motives are equally contemptible ; but 
the latter is more pernicious, and produces the most ruinous con- 
sequences. It starves and smothers public undertakings, and 
public spirit ; and often defrauds illustrious men of their due re- 
wards. It is the characteristic vice of our times, and of our 
nation; and ought to be hunted down by every man who has a 
real regard for the honour and interest of his country. To this 
vile spirit we must ascribe the never enough-to-be-despised de- 
bate, whether Eaton, the glorious and immortal hero of Derne*, 

* This is among- the most illustrious events in American military affairs 
by land, when all the circumstances of the case are taken into view. Who 
can reflect without amazement and admiration, on the heroism of the gallant 
band, that under this intrepid chief, pierced through the frijfhtful deaart, and 



4g rOLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 2. 

should be rewarded with a sword or a medal ! a debate which 
brought down on the congress in which it took place, the con- 
tempt of every magnanimous and liberal man in the nation ; a 
debate which would have disgraced the common council of the 
most petty borough in the union. To this spirit it is due, that 
votes of thanks, and swords, and urns, and other cheap modes of 
displaying our gratitude, have tranquillized our minds, and de- 
ceived us into the opinion, that we have paid the boundless debt 
due to the Hulls, the Bainbridges, the Decaturs, the Perrys, the 
Porters, the Macdonoughs, the Joneses, the Kipleys, the Browns, 
the Scotts, the Cofl'ees, the Carrolls, the Macombs,the Jacksons, 
and the other heroes, whose glory will live as long as pul)lic spi- 
rit, consummate talents, and distinguished bravery command the 
veneration of mankind. 

The modest, the unassuming, the youthjTul Perry rescued a 
whole frontier, men, women, and children from the murderous 
tomahawk. Macdonough rescued another, and prevented the 
enemy from establishing his winter quarters far within our terri- 
tory. And Jackson achieved for himself and his country im- 
mortal honour, by an exploit certainly never exceeded, perhaps 
never equalled. He preserved one of the most important keys 
and emporiums of the country, from the power of the enemy, by 
the most consummate prudence, talents, and bravery. The in- 
terest of the property he saved from depredation, is probably 
above Sr50,000 per annum. Yet it is doubtful vvhether there is 
gratitude enough in our public bodies, who hold the purse strings 
of the nation, or in the individuals whose property has been pre- 
served, to make him any adequate return*. I hope and pray I 
may be deceived. I deprecate being correct in this calculation. 
But I have fearful misgivings on the subject. 

To enable us to form an estimate of the immense debt we owe 
our illustrious heroes, it is only necessary to call to recollection, 
the prostration of the public mind, and the degradation of the 
national character in the early part of the war, when our opera- 
tions on land were "one continued stream" of disgraces and dis- 
asters ; and when but for the exploits of Hull and a few others 
on the ocean, the name of an American would have been a pass- 
port to shame and disgrace. The national character was sup- 
ported throughout the war by out little navy, whose exploits may 
challenge comparison with any of the most signal acts of hero- 
shook a powerful usurper's throne to'the centre. The inauspiciotis interfe- 
rence that dashed the glorious prize to the earth, just as Eaton had stretched 
out his hand, and was ready to seize it without the smallest danger of an 
unfavourable result, is liighly to be regretted. The State of Massaclnisetts 
acquired a liigh degree of honour by its liberality to the warrior of Derne, 
on whom it bestowed ten tiuiusand acres of land as a mark of its esteem and 
admiration. This act of generosity, by the contrast, made the miserable 
conduct of Congress appear worthy of additional contempt. 
* The event has realised these, anticipations. 



CHAP. 2] NAVY. 49 

ism recorded in histor}'. And on land, towards the close, it was 
nobly retrieved by the heroes whose names I have given, and 
others who nobly grace their country's annals. And is it pos- 
sible that congress will not give some substantial proof of the 
nation's gratitude for benefits so far beyond all price ! 

In very few instances, hitherto, have congress or the people 
of the United States discharged their duty' in this respect, or 
displayed a suitable degree of gratitude. Of votes of thanks 
they have been abundantly liberal. These cost nothing. A few 
swords and medals too have been awarded. But of all the be- 
nefactors of their country — those men -who have preserved it 
from the bottomless abysses of disgrace and dishonour into -which 
it zvas precipitously falling — who have given it a rank among the 
nations of the earth, there is hardly one on whom the nation has 
bestowed a reward worthy of it or him. 

The debt due to the illustrious men with whose names I have 
honoured my page, and others, who have trod the same path of 
glory, cannot easily be discharged, even on the ground of mere 
calculation of pecuniary advantage to the nation, exclusive of the 
elevation of its character. 

If England, whom in this respect we ought to aspire to emu- 
late, gave 500,000 sterling to her Wellingtons and Nelsons, 
let the United States give some solid and substantial proof of 
their gratitude, to their illustrious heroes. Such extravagant re- 
wards as the British parliament voted " the great lord" as he 
has been styled, are not here contemplated. But the gift ought 
to be worthy of the donor and acceptor ; ought to operate as a 
reward to the meritorious, and a stimulus to excite others to 
emulation. 

This is in some degree a digression. But I hope the feelings 
of my readers will be sufficiently in unison with these sentiments, 
not to require an apology. I therefore make none. I return to 
the navy. 

I feel confident, that the nation has lost five hundred times as 
much through the want of a small navy, as that navy would have 
cost. Numbers of instances have occurred, of valuable mer- 
chantmen having been captured by petty pickaroons, with one or 
two guns. Our ports have been insulted and outraged, and the 
ships and cargoes of our merchants plundered by privateers and 
sloops of war, v/hich a few armed vessels would have forced to 
keep a respectful distance. There is none of the points on 
which the two hostile parties have differed, wherein the demo- 
crats have been so far below their adversaries in consulting the 
real, the permanent honour and interest of the country, as the es- 
tablishment of a naval force. The policy of the federalists in 
this respect was dignified and honourable j that of the democrats 
miserably contracted. 



So POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chaf. 2. 



Alien arid Sedition Laws^ and Eight per cent. Loans. 

The factious clamour excited against the sedition and alien 
laws, and against the eight per cent, loan,— -which clamour was 
the principal means of changing the administration, and taking 
it from the hands of the federalists, to place it in those of the de- 
mocrats — may be justly reckoned among the sins of the latter 
party. A candid review of the so-styled sedition law, at the 
present hour, when the public ferment to which it gave rise has 
wholly subsided, will satisfy any reasonable man, that so far from 
being an outrageous infringement of liberty, as was asserted, it 
was a measure not merely defensible, but absolutely necessary 
and indispensable towards the support of government*. To en- 
able the reader to judge for himself, without the trouble of refer- 
ring to a volume of the laws, I annex the document itself. 

" Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That if any persons shall 
wilawfully combine or conspire together, with intent to oppose any measure or mea- 
sures of the government of the United States, which are or shall be directed by the 
proper authoriiy, or to impede the operation of any law of the United States, or to 
intimidate or prevent any person holding a place or office in or under the 
government of tlie United States, from undertaking, performing-, or executing 
his trust, or duty ; and if any person or persons, with intent as aforesaid, shall 
counsel, advise, or attempt to procure any insurrection, riot, unlawful assem- 
bly, or combination, whether such conspiracy, threatening, counsel, advice, 
or attempt shall have the proposed effect or not, he or they shall be deemed 
guil y of a high misdemeanour ; and on conviction, before any court of the 
United States, having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not ex- 
ceeding five tiiousand dollars, and by imprisonment during a term not less 
than six months, nor exceeding five years ; and further, at the discretion of 
the court may be holden to find sureties for his or their good behaviour in 
such sum, and for such time, as the said court may direct. 

" Sec 2. And be it further enacted. That If any person shall write, print, 
utter or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered, or 
published, or shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing, 
uttering or publishing any y<//^e, scandalous and malicious writing or writings 
against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the 
United States, or the President of the United States, with intent to defame the 
said government, or either house of the Congress, or the said President, or 
to bring them, or either of them, into contempt or disrepute ; or to excite 
against them, or either or any of them, the hatred of the good people of the 
United States, or to stir up sedition within the United States ; or to excite 
any unlawful combinations therein, for opposing or resisting any law of the 
United States, or any act of the president of the United States, done in pur- 
suance of any such law, or of the powers in him vested by the constitution of 
the United States ; or to resist, oppose, or defeat any such law or act ; or to 
aid, encourage, or abet any hostile designs of any foreign natio7i against the United 

• It is but justice to avow that the writer of this book was as ardent in his 
opposition to, and as much alarmed at the probable consequences of, the alien 
and sedition laws, as any man in the community. As it requires an extraor- 
dinary degree of corporeal sanity to resist the effects of a violent epidemical 
disorder, so it requires great strength of mind to keep out of the vortex of 
factious contagion, when prevalent with those whose opinions are generally 
congenial with our own. Of this strength of mind the \jrriter was destitute 
in common with a large portion of his fellow citizens. 



PHAP. 2.] SEDITION LAW. Si 

States, their people or government ; then such person, being thereof convicted 
before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be 
punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment 
not exceeding two years. 

"Sec 3, And be it further enacted and declared. That if any person shall be 
prosecuted under this act, for writing or publishing any libel as aforesaid, it 
shall be lavifuljor the defendant, upon the trial of the cause, to give in evidence, in 
his defence, the truth of the matter contained in the publication charged as a libel' 
And the jury who shall try the cause, shall have a right to determine the law 
and the fact, under the direction of the court, as in other cases." 

The fate of this law holds out an all-important lesson on fac- 
tion and party spirit. Laudable and necessary as it was, and 
guarded, as far as a law can be guarded, against abuse, the op- 
position to it was as violent, and it excited as much horror and 
indignation, as if it had wholly destroyed the liberty of the press, 
and " left not a trace behind,''^ And in this senseless and dis- 
graceful clamour, were engaged vast numbers of the best and 
most intelligent members of the community. The Alien and 
Sedition Laws were made the subject of an elegant, but violent 
and inflammatory report, agreed to by the legislature of Virgi- 
nia, as respectable and enlightened a deliberative body as any in 
the United States, or perhaps in the world. But they were bit- 
ten by the mad dog of fiiction in common with so large a portion 
of their fellow-citizens, and were seized with the prevalent dis- 
order. They regarded the two obnoxious laws as inroads upon 
public liberty, which required to be repelled with the utmost 
firmness. 

It would be uncandid not to state, that the trials under this act, 
for libels against the president, and, as far as my recollection 
serves me, against some of the other public functionaries, were 
managed with very considerable rigour; and, from the abuse of 
the law, tended to give an appearance of propriety and justice to 
the clamour against it. The cases of Thomas Cooper and IVIat- 
thew Lyon, Esqrs. who were both treated with remarkable se- 
verity, excited a high degree of sympathy in the public mind. I 
am convinced, that under all the circumstances, a jury could not 
be found in London to pronounce a verdict of " guilty" against 
either of them. Of the two cases, it may be justly said, summum 
jus summa injuria. But the censure did not attach to the law. 
It lay at the door of the juries. 

I have little to offer respecting the alien law. It was undoubt- 
edly liable to strong objections. It invested the president with 
{)owcrs liable to great abuse. But it certainly never warranted 
the awful outcry that was raised against it. To enable the rea- 
der, however, to form his own opinion — and, if mine be errone- 
ous, to reject it altogether, I annex the most obnoxious clause of 
the act. 

" S EC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America, tn Congress assembled, That it shall be lawful for the Pre- 
sjdent of the United States, at any time during the continuance of this act, to 
order all such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of 



1^ POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 2. 

the United States, or shall have reasonable grounds to suspect are concerned 
in any treasonable or secret machinations against the government thereof, to 
depart out of the territory of the United States, within sucii time as sliall be 
expressed in such order ; which order shall be served on such alien, by de- 
livering him a copy thereof, or leaving tlie same at his usual abode, and re- 
turned to the office of the secretary of state, by the marshal or other person to 
wliom the same shall be du'ected. And mease any alien, so ordered to depart, 
shall be found at large within the United States after the time limited in such 
order for liis departure, and not having obtained a license from the president 
to reside therein ; or, having obtained such license, shall not have conformed 
thereto ; every such alien shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned for a 
term not exceeding three years, and shall never afier be admitted to become 
a citizen of the United States. Provided akuays, und be it further enacted, That 
if any alien, so ordered to depart, shall prove to the satisfaction of the presi- 
dent, by evidence to be taken before such person or persons as the president 
shall direct, who are for that purpose hereby authorised to administer oaths, 
that no injury or danger to the United States will arise from suffering- such 
alien to reside therein, the president may grant a license to such alien to re- 
main within the United Slates, for such time as he shall judge proper,andat 
such place as he may designate. And the president may also require of 
such alien to enter into a bond to the United States, in such penal sum as he 
may direct, with one or more sufficient sureties to the satisfaction of the per- 
son authorised by the president to take the same, conditioned for the good 
behaviour of such alien during his residence in the United States, and not 
violating his license ; which license the president may revoke, whenever he 
shall think proper." ^uiy 6, 1798. ; ■.. 

The eight per cent, loan remains. It was united with, and 
increased the clamour against, the alien and sedition laws ; and 
these unpopular measures, as I have already observed, precipi- 
tated the federalists from power. Yet we have since found that 
their successors, the democrats, have themselves given about 
eight per cent, on some of their loans. This would afford a glo- 
rious triumph to federalism over her inveterate rival, democra- 
cy, were it not that the annals of the former can furnish many 
instances of similar inconsistencv and departure from professions. 
And it is a melancholy truth, that the histories of all the parties 
and factions which, since government was first instituted, have 
cursed and scourged mankind by their senseless, envenomed, 
and implacable hostilities, are replete with instances of errors 
equally disgraceful and dishonourable. A history of the inad- 
ness, the folly and depravity of party and faction, is a grand de- 
sideratum. 

yay''s Treaty. 

The violent opposition to this instrument, which pervaded the 
union, and greatly disturbed the administration of general Wash- 
ington, was a highly factious procedure on the part of the demo- 
crats, who were led away by objections, plausible, but unsub- 
stantial — hardly any of which have been realized. This affair 
evinces the danger of yielding to the sudden impulses of national 
feeling, which bear down every thing before them, and which 
wholly overpower the reason and understanding of even the wise 
and the good, who, on such occasions, are only on a level with 
the uninformed and uncultivated part of the community. Nearly 
all the predictions respecting this treaty have been the sooth-say- 



CHAP. 3.] TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 53 

ings of false prophets ; of men, some led astray by their preju- 
dices — others by perturbed imaginations, and of some who sought 
to make this instrument a ladder to mount to the gratification of 
their ambition. Such of them as have been realized, have been 
more than counterbalanced by the solid advantages resultingfrom 
the adjustment oi the difterences between the two nations. 

CHAPTER III. 

Monroe and Pinkney's Treaty with England. Separation of the 
States. Treasonable publications. Embargo. Non-intercourse. 

-. Of the errors of Air. Jefferson's administration, I shall con- 
fine myself to three, denoting two very opposite extremes of 
character — the one highly bold and daring — the other displaying 
an equal degree of feebleness. 

Monroe and Pinkneifs Treaty xvith England. 

Two ministers, appointed by Mr. Jeiferson, had negociated a 
treaty with England, the best they could obtain. It had been 
transmitted to him in due form. Without consulting the Senate, 
the co-ordinate branch of the treaty-making power, he, on his 
own responsibility, rejected it, and transmitted to these ministers 
instructions to begin the negociation anew. This was a mighty 
jind a fatal error.* It mav be doubted whether it were not a vio- 
lation, at least of the spirit of the constitution. It was, at all 
eventSi a case that probably did not enter into the conceptions of 
the framers of that instrument. If it had, it is likely they would 
have provided against its occurrence. 

A culm reflection on this sul)ject can hardly fail to convince 
the reader, that to this source may probably be traced nearly all 
our late diihculties. Had this treaty been submitted to the se- 
nate, they would, in all likelihood, have ratified the chief parts 
of it ; and, as had been the case with Jay's treaty, have referred 
the obnoxious clauses to a new discussion. Our disputes with 
England would have been thus compromised— and our party di- 
visions could never have been excited to such a height as to en- 
danger the peace and security of the country. 

The rejection of this treaty has been ascribed to Mr. Jeffer- 
son's desire of a cause of war with England. This is radically 
wrong. From the commencement of the French revolution, En- 
gland afibrded this country constant grmmd for war, in the im- 
pressment of our seamen, and the predator) proceedings against 
our commerce. But a pregn.mt proof of the utter fallacy of this 
accusation arises out of the attack of the Leopard on the Chesa- 

w 

* it lias been attempted to justify this procedure, by the circumstance, that 
the neg-ociators had violated one explicit item of Mr. Jefferson's instructions; 
to conclude no treaty witiiout a specific article guarding' against impress- 
ments. This is no iustification. It is barely a palliation. 
O. B. 9 



^ POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 3^ 

peake. This circumstance decides the question forever. Had 
Mr. Jefferson been desirous of war with England, nothing nnore 
was necessary than to have convened congress immediately after 
that event, during the extraordinary fermentation of the pubhc 
mind which it created. All parties were then clamorous for, and 
would have heartily united in support of, a war with Great Bri- 
tain. And war would certainly have been declared by coiigress 
almost unanimously. But with a desire of peace, deservmg of 
the highest praise, and of the gratitude of his country, which he 
has never received, he deferred convening congress about four 
months, within which period the public ferment had subsided. 
This important fact has been wholly overlooked in the f^ictious 
discussions that have taken place respecting his administration ; 
so true it is, that in times of turbulence, reason raises her voice 
in vain. It is drowned in the obstreperous brawlmgs of noisy 

factionists. . 

The same regard for justice which leads to this vindication, 
demands an unqualified censure of the very extraordinary and 
unprecedented measure of rejecting the treaty on his own re- 
sponsibility. 

Besides the want of an explicit clause on the sabject ot im- 
pressment, the friends of Mr. Jefferson assign another plea to 
justify him for the rejection of this treaty. After it had been 
agreed upon by the British commissioners, and those of the Uni- 
ted States, a rider was arinexed to it by the former, intended to 
give the treaty-sanction to the celebrated orders in council, which, 
even then, it would appear, were in contemplation. 

To enable the reader to decide correctly, I annex the rider. 

Note of the British Commissioners, accompanying Monroe ana 

Pinkneijs Treaty. 

London, Dec 31, 1806. 

«• The undersized, Henry Richard Vassal, lord Holland, and William lord 
Auckland, plenipotentiaries of his Britannic majesty, have the honour to m- 
form James Monroe, and Wdliam Pinkney, commissioners extraordinary and 
plenipotentiaries of the United States of America, that they are now ready 
to proceed to the signature of the treaty of amity, commerce and navigation, 
on the articles of which they have mutually agreed. • , ^ i, 

•' But at the same time they have it in command from his majesty to call 
the attention of the commissioners of the United States, to some extraordi- 
nary proceedings which have lately taken place on the continent of Europe, 
and to communicate to them officially the sentiments of his majesty s govern- 

"'^"Viie^proSedings alluded to are certain declarations and orders of the 
French government, issued at Berlin, on the twenty-first of Novemher last. 
"In those orders, the French g«veniment seeks to justify or palliate its own 
uniust pretensions, by imputing to Great Britain, principles which she never 
professed, and practices which never existed. His majesty is accused of a 
systematic and general disregard of the law of nations, recognized by cm- 
lised states, and more particularly of an unwarrantable extension of the right 
of blockade. Whereas his majesty may conjidtntly appeal to the 'world on his urn. 
form respect to neutral rights, and his general and scrupulous adherence to the lanv 
of nation^, without condescending to contrast his conduct m these particulars 



CHAP. 3.] BRITISH NOTE. 55 

with that of his enemy ; and with regard to the only specified charge, it is 
notorious that he has never declared any ports to be in a state </f bhclade, loith'Mt 
allotting to that object a force suffcient to make the entrance into them vianifestiy 
dangerous. 

" By such allegations, unfounded as they are, the enemy attempts to jus- 
tify his pretensions of confiscating- as lawful prize, all produce of English in- 
dustry or manufacture, though it be the property of neutrals ; of excluding 
from his harbours every neutral vessel, which has touched at any port of liis 
majesty's dominions, though employed in an innocent commerce ; and (^f de- 
claring Great Britain to be in a state of blockade, though his own naval ports 
and arsenals are actually blockaded! and he is unable to station any naval 
force, whatever, before any port of the united kingdom. 

'* Such principles are in themselves extravagant and repugnant to the law 
of nations ; and the pretensions founded on them, though professedly direct- 
ed solely against Great Britam, tend to alter the practice of war among civi- 
lised nations, and utterly to subvert the rights and independence of neutral powers. 
The undersigned cannot, therefore, believe, that the enemy will ever serious- 
ly attempt to enforce such a system. If he should, they are confident that 
the good sense of the American government will perceive the fatal conse- 
quences of such pretensions to neutral commerce; and thist its spirit and 
regard to national honour will prevent its acquiescence in such palpable vio- 
lations of its rights, and injurious encroachments on its interests. 

" If, however, the enemy should carry these threats into execution ; and 
if neutral nations, contrary to all ex|)cct aliens, should acquiesce in such usur- 
pations ; his majesty might probably be compelled, however reluctantly, to 
retaliate in his just defence, and to adopt, in regard to the commerce of neu- 
tral nations with his enemies, the same measures, which those nations shall 
have permitted to be enforced against their commerce with his subjects. 
The commissioners of the United States will therefore feel, that at a mo- 
ment when /;/* majesty ajid all neutral nations ate threatened luith such an exten- 
sion of the belligerent pretensions of his enemies, he cannot enter into the stipu- 
lations of the present treaty, without explanation from the United States of 
their intentions, or a reservation on the part of hisjnajesty in the case above 
mentioned, if it should ever occur. 

" The undersigned, considermgthat the distance of the American govern- 
ment, renders any immediate explanation on this subject impossible, and ani- 
mated by a desire of forwarding the beneficial work in which they arc en- 
gaged, are authorised by his majesty to conclude the treaty without delay. 
They proceed to the signature under the full persuasion thut before the 
treaty shall be returned from America, with the ratification of the United 
States, the enemy will either have formally abandoned, or tacitly relinquish- 
ed, his unjust pretensions ; or that the government of the United Slates, by 
its conduct or assurances, will have given security to his majesty that it will 
not subiTiit to such innovations in the established system of maritime law : 
and the undersigned have presented this note from an anxious, wish that it 
should be clearly understood on both sides, that without such an abandonment 
on the part of the enemy, or such conduct on the part of the United States, 
HIS MAJESTY WILL NOT CONSIDER HIMSELF BOUND, BY THE 
PRESENT SIGNATURE OF HIS COMMISSIONERS, TO RATIFY 
THIS TREATY, OR PRECLUDED FROM ADOPTING SUCH MEA- 
SURES AS MAY SEEM NECESSARY FOR COUNTERACTING THE 
DESIGNS OF HIS ENEMY. 

" The undersigned cannot conclude, without expressing their satisfaction 
on the prospect of accomplishing an object so important to tlie interests and 
friendly connection of both nations, and their just sense of the conciliatory 
disposition, manifested by the commissioners of the United States, during 
the whole course of tUe negoclation." 

fSi^nedJ VASSAL HOLLAND. 

To James Monroe, &c. &c. 8(,c. AUCKLAND. 

William Pinkney, 8cc. &c. &.c. 

However exceptionable the terms of this note may be, I can- 
not persuade myself that it justifies the rejection of the treaty 



56 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. S. 

without consulting the senate. Men of powerful minds defend 
the procedure. I'heir arguments appear unsound. — To the rea- 
der's judgment the subject is submitted. 

Sfparation of the States. 
The next error of Mr. Jefferson's administration involves a 
very great neglect of duty* During nearly the vvliAle of that pe- 
riod, the insurrectional and treasonable doctrine of a separation 
of the states, was publicly advocated in some of the gazettes to 
the eastward, and, wonderful and shameful to tell, preached trom 
the pulpit.* 'I'hese publications and sermons, having a direct 
tendency to the destruction of social order, and the introduction 
of civil war, demanded the severe animadversion ol the law oflfi- 
cers of the government. It was the incumbent duty of the Pre- 
sident to have had ihe laws put in force, in order to repress the 
offences, and to punish the offenders. And if there were no law 
to reach the offence, he ought to have submitted the case to con- 
gress, for the purpose of supplying the defect. A re-enactment 
and enforcement of the sedition law were imperiously required. 
And the good sense of the nation would have supported a mea- 
sure which the public welfare rendered so necessary. It may be 
fairly averred that there is no country in the world but the United 
States, in which an open attempt to subvert the government, and 
tear down the pillars of society, would have escaped condign 
punishment. Every society ought to possess within itself, and 
rigorously to exercise, whenever occasions call for it, the funda- 
mental principle of self-preservation. 

It is impossible to censure too highly the error here adverted 
to. The jeopardy in which the nation was lately placed, when 
our nearest and dearest interests were in the most imminent dan- 
ger, may be fairly ascribed to this most fatal and pernicious mis- 
conduct. In every science, there are some great, leading truths 
which cannot be controverted. And in political economy there 
is no maxim more indubitable than this, that treason never was,, 
and probably never -will be propitiated by forbearance. Since the 
world was formed, never did a conspiracy meet with the same 
degree of impunity. Our " Palinurus slept at the helm.'' The 
mutineers had full scope for their activity. They made their ar- 
rangements at leisure, as undisturbedly as if they were engaged 
in promoting the salvation of the state. To whatever cause this 
neglect may be ascribed, whether to torpor, inactivity, or reliance 
on the good sense of the nation, it casts an indelible stain on the 
administration of Mr. Jefferson. 

The last of the errors of that administration which I shall no- 
tice, arises from its neglect of enforcing 

The Embargo., 
Which was a most efficient weapon for procuring redress from 
England. Its effects upon her colonies by privations ot the ne- 

* See Chapter 55, 



CHAP. 3] EMBARGO. ST 

eessarics of life — and upon her trade and naval power, by with- 
holding supplies ot raw materials and naval stores, were very 
considerable. And had it been duly enforced, as the duty of 
the chief magistrate required, it could hardl}- have faile/. to im- 
pel the British to relinquish those pretensions, which so highly 
and perniciou^y infringed our rights. But it was openly and 
flagitiously violated : and of course its intended operation on En- 
gland utterly counteracted It became almost a mere paper pop 
gun. Its effects on this country v/ere highly pernicious. While 
it curtailed the trade and profits of the fair trader, it enabled 
smugglers, and those who set the laws of their country at defi- 
ance—whose god was gain, to make rapid and unhallowed for- 
tunes. In a word it sacrificed the interests of some of the best, 
to those of the very worst members of the community. In pro- 
portion as a citizen held the laws sacred— -in proportion as he ho- 
nestly yielded them obedience — in the same proportion did he 
sacrifice his interest. And by this political arithmetic, in pro- 
portion as he disregarded the law — in proportion as he sacrificed 
the public interest to his thirst of gain — in the same proportion 
did he aggrandize himself. The export trade, which was frau- 
dulently carried on to a considerable extent, was wholly in the 
hands of persons of the latter description. Their vessels, laden 
with abundant supplies for the British colonies, were very conve- 
niently driven to sea by north west winds, ^^nd forced into the 
West Indies-. 

It has been said, in vindication of Mr. Jefferson, that he had 
not sufficient power to enforce the execution of the law. This is 
utterly incorrect. His powers were amply adequate for this pur- 
pose. But even if this defence were valid, it does not exonerate 
him from the high degree of censure attached to this dereliction 
of duty. He ought, in that case, to have stated the defect to con- 
gress, who had power of applying, and undoubtedly at his requi- 
sition would have applied a remedy. 

Besides the non-enforcement of the embargo act, there was a 
radical error committed by the government in continuing it so 
long. Its inadequacy, to effect the purpose its friends had con- 
templated, was fully established. And, this object being unat- 
tained, its effect was to punish ourselves for the lawless proceed- 
ings of others. It ought to have been considered principally as 
a preparation for war. 

The measure substituted for the embargo, that is, the non-in- 
tercourse with both belligerents, has been generally regarded by 
the democrats, as a feeble one : and the tenth congress, which 
made the change, has been on that ground stigmatized by them 
almost universally, as imbecile and contemptible. This is a most 
egregious error. It is inconceivable how it could have found 
such general credence. The non-intercourse law was as bold, 
as manly, and as energetic a measure as the annals of Christen- 



58 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 4. 

dom can produce for a century. An infant nation, with five or six 
frigates, and a number of gun-boats, forbids the entrance into her 
ports, under penalty of confiscation, to the vessels of the two 
most powerful nations in the world ; the one absolute by land — 
the other by sea, the latter owning a thousand vessels of war ! 
and this is, forsooth, a measure dictated by imbecility ! The hu- 
man mind can hardly conceive a greater instance of folly. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Bank of the United States. 3Iiserable policy not tp renew the 

Charter. 

Among the great sins of the democratic party, during Mr. 
Madison's administration, must be numbered the non-renewal of 
the charter of the Bank of the United States. This circumstance 
injuriously affected the credit and character of this country 
abroad — produced a great degree of stagnation, distress, and dif- 
ficulty at home — and was among the causes of the late embar- 
rassments and difficulties of the pecuniary concerns of the coun- 
try. — Had this bank been in existence, its capital might readily 
at any time have been increased by congress, ten, twenty, or 
thirty millions, so as to aid the government most effectually, and 
support the national credit. 

To the renewal of the charter there were various objections 
offered, on the ground of inexpediency : but these had not much 
influence — nor were they entertained by many of the members. 
The grand difficulty arose from the idea so steadily maintained 
by most of the democratic party, that the constitution imparts no 
power to grant charters of incorporation. Many of the members 
who on this ground voted in the negative, most unequivocally 
admitted the expediency of the renewal of the charter. 

This constitutional objection had been obviated, it would ap- 
pear, unanswerably. All the departments of the government, le- 
gislative, executive, and judiciary, had recognized theinstitutioi^ 
at various times during the twenty years of its existence. 

The courts of different states^ and of the United States^ had 
sustained various suits brought by the bank in its corporate ca- 
pacity— ^hy which, so far as depends upon the judiciary, it had 
had the seal of constitutionality stamped on it. This was a very 
serious, important, and decisive circumstance. 

In addition to this, a democratic legislature of the United 
States had given it a most solemn sanction. In March, 1804, 
an a"ct had passed, authorising the institution to establish branch- 
es in the territories of the United States, which power was not 
embraced by the original charter. This act -was passed without 
a division, when nearly all the members were present, and when 
the democrats had an overwhelming- majority in co7igress. No 



CHAP. 5.] ARMISTICE. i9 

eonstitutional objection could have been then suggested ; for had 
any of the members believed the measure unconstitutional, they 
would indubitably have called for the yeas and nays, in order to 
record their dissent. 

The act was signed by Nathaniel Macon, speaker of the house 
of representatives ; Jesse Franklin, president of the senate; and 
Thomas Jefferson, president of the United States. 

These cases, with others which might be cited, produced this 
dilemma. They either, as I have stated, afforded a complete 
recognition of the constitutionality of the charter, or a gross, pal- 
pable violation of the constitution, by the three several grand de- 
partments of the government. 

I presume it cannot be doubted, that if a charter of incorpo- 
ration be unconstitutional, every extension of the powers of the 
corporate body must be equally unconstitutional. 

It therefore irresistibly follows, that every member of con- 
gress who voted for the act of March, 1804, and afterAvards vo- 
ted against a renewai of the charter, merely on the ground of 
unconstitutionality, was guilty of a manifest, if not a criminal 
iijconsistency.* 

A circumstance connected with this transaction, rendered the 
impropriety of the rejection of the application for a renewal of 
the charter, still more striking and palpable. The government 
till the year 1803 held 2200 shares of the stock, which it sold 
to Sir Francis ^Paring at 45 per cent, advance, whereby it 
made a clear profit of §399,600 beyond their par value. Those 
who purchased of Mr. Baring, and held the stock till the disso- 
lution of the bank, lost all this sum, exclusive of a considerable 
difference between the dividends and legal interest on the pur- 
chase money. They could never have entertained any doubt of 
the continuance of the charter. They must have conceived it to 
be as permanent as that of the bank of England. Had they sup- 
posed otherwise, they would not have bought at so great an ad- 
vance. And it would not be easy to satisfy the candid and im- 
partial, that our government could with propriety or justice, 
make such profit of their ignorance and their confidence in its 
integrity and fairness, 

CHAPTER V. 

Armistice proposed by Admiral Warren, 

The next of the errors of Mr. Madison's administration, that 
I notice, is the rejection of the armistice offered by admiral 
Warren, on the 12th of September, 1812, nearly three months 
after the declaration of war. 

• For further details on the subject, the reader is referred to " Seven let- 
ters to Dr. Seybert on the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United 
States." By M, C. 



99 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 5. 

Never, probably, was war more jnst. Never had a country 
more patiently borne the most humiliating accumulation ot out- 
rage and injury than the United States had done. Her charac- 
ter had in consequence depreciated in the estimation of mankind. 
She was universally presumed to be so lost in the sordid pursuit 
of gain, as to be callous to outrage, to insult, and to contumely. 
She appeared to have forfeited all regard to national honour 
and dignity. Her mendicant ambassadors had been, for years, 
in vain suing for justice and forbearance at the portals of St. 
James's palace. The pusillanimity of the government had be- 
come to the federalists a theme of reproach against their antago- 
nists — to the democrats, of shame and mortification. And it was 
a bve-word among the opposers of the administration, that it 
" could not be kicked into war." This reproachful expression 
was used even in congress by Mr. Josiah Quincey, and was quite 
common out of doors. It is impossible to forget the torrents of re- 
proaches heaped upon the cabinet at Washington on this grouud. 
The pusillanimity and cowardice of the administration furnished 
an inexhaustible fund of rhetorical embellishments to flowery 
speeches innumerable. 

The declaration of war was therefore indubitably as just as 
any similar document from the days of Nimrod. The expediency 
of it was, however, not equally clear. The risk was immense. 
It was putting to hazard the vital interests of eight millions of 
people, on the very uncertain chances of war. ^Yet 1 do not pre- 
tend to decide the question of expediency irf the negative ; for 
let it be observed, that every argument against this war would 
apply with nearly equal force against resistance to any degree of 
insult, outrage, and injury from England ; as the chief arguments 
against its expediency were predicated upon the immense naval 
force of that nation, and her consequent means of inflicting in- 
calculable injury upon the United States: and whatever cogency 
there might be in these arguments, would equally exist, let the 
injuries sustained be what they might. 

But whatever might be the justice, necessity, or policy of the 
war, it was a great error, when the orders in council were re- 
pealed, and an armistice offered by the British government, not 
to accept it. Negociations for the removal of the rest of our 
grievances might have taken place j and would undoubtedly have 
been conducted under more favourable auspices, than those that 
preceded them ; for England having discovered that she had cal- 
culated too far on our passiveness, v/ould have been far more 
disposed to do us justice. 

Unfortunately, the proposition was rejected.* 

* Candour and justice to Mr. Madison require that I should state, that he 
offered to agree to an armistice with sir John Borlase Warren, on condition 
that the practice of impressment should be suspended during the neg'ociation 



jca&y. 5.] IiMPRESSMENT. 61 

When the preceding article was written, I had not sufficiently- 
examined the celebrated repeal, as it is styled, of the orders in 

From the letter of the Secretary of State to sir Jolin on this subject, I annex 
an extract — 

"The claim of the British g-overnment is to take from the merchant %'essels 
of other countries, British subjects. In the practice, tiie commanders of Brit- 
ish ships of war often take from the merchant vessels of the United States, 
American citizens. If the United States prohibit the employ^nent of British sub- 
jects in their service, and enforce the prohibition by suitable regulations and penal- 
ties, the motive to the practice is taken away. It is in tiiis mode that the presi- 
dent IS willing to accommodate this important controversy with the British, 
g-overnment : and it cannot be conceived on what ground the arrangement 
can be refused. 

"A suspension of the practice of impressment, pending the armistice, seems 
to be a necessary consequence. It cannot be presumed, while the parties are 
engaged in a negociation to adjust amicably this important diflerence, that 
the United States would admit tlie right, or acquiesce in the practice, of the 
opposite party; or that Great Britain would be unwilling to restrain her crui- 
sers from a practice which would have the strongest tendency to defeat the 
negociation. It is presumable, that both parties would enter into the nego- 
ciation with a sincere desire to give it effect. For this purpose, it is neces- 
sary, that a clear and distinct understanding be first obtained between them, 
of the accommodation which each is prepared to make. If t lie British govern* 
tnent is viiUing to suspend the practice of iinpressmcnt from American vessels, on 
consideration that the United States will exclude British seamen from their service, 
the regulations by ivhich the compromise should be carried into effect, would be 
solely the object of negociation' The armistice would be of short duration. If 
the parties agreed, peace would be the result. If the negociation failed, 
each would be restored to its former state, and to all its pretensions by re* 
curring to war. 

•' The president desires that the war wtiich exists between the two coun- 
tries should be terminated on such conditions as may secure a solid and dura- 
ble peace. To ac*omplish this grand object, it is necessary that the great 
subject of impressment be satisfactorily arranged. He is willing that Great 
Britain shoulu be secured against the e'cils of which she complains He seeks on the 
other hand, that the citizens of the United States should be protected against 
a practice, which, while it degrades the nation, dtpriixes them of their rights as 
freemen, takes them by force frovi their families and country into a foreign service, 
to fight the battles of a foreign power, perhaps against their own kindred and country.'"* 

These proposals were perfectly fair and honourable ; and it is to be la- 
mented that sir J. B. Warren's powers were not extensive enough to allow 
him to accept them : but as they were not thus extensive, it is equally to be 
lamented that the suspension of impressment was insis'.ed on. 

As this is a most important feature in our public proceedings, it is proper 
to state further, that so sincerely desirous was Mr. Madison to close the 
breach, that on the twenty-sixth of June, 1812, bniy eight days after tiie de- 
.ciarationof war, he authorised Mr. Russel to make tiie same proposition to 
the government of Great Britain- The communication was made to lord 
Castlereagh by Mr. Russel, in the following woids ; 

London, August 24, 1812. 

"As an inducement to Great Britain, to discontinue the practice of im- 
pressment from American vessels, I am authorised to give assurance, that a 
law shall be passed (to be reciprocal) to prohibit the employment of British 
seamen, in the public or commercial service of tlie United States. 

" It is sincerely believed, that such aii arrangement would prove more ef- 
ficacious in secui-ing to Great Britain her seamen, than the practice of im- 
pressment, so derogatory to the sovereign attributes of the United States, 
ajid so incompatible with the personal rights of her citizens." 

This proposition was rejected. 

• Message of the President to Congress, November 4, 1812, 

O. B. 10 



62 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 5. 

council, which is very different indeed, from what I had conceiv- 
ed it. It is liable to strong objections, which I believe have 
never been fully stated, and of which the public are noi probably 
aware. To enable the reader to form a correct opinion on a 
point of such great magnitude, independent of .any impression 
to be made bv my statement, I annex the paragraph of the instru- 
ment to which I allude, and which I am confident never was ge- 
nerally understood or attended to* 

•' His royal liig-hness is hereby pleased to declare, in the name and on the 
behalf of his majesty, that notliing- in tiiis present order contained, shall he 
understood to preclude his roval highness the prince regent, IF CIRCUM- 
STANCES SHALL SO REQUIRE," [mark these words, reader— "j/'aV- 

cuTnstances shall so require,'*'] '^Jiom restoring, after reasonable notice, the orders 
of the seventh of January, 1807", and the twenty-sixth of April, 1809, or any part 
thereof, to their full effect : OR, from taking such other ineasures of retaliation 
against the enemy, as may appear to his royal highness to be just and necessary ." 

This is a most extraordinary, unprecedented, and indefensible 
clause. The prince regent has received an authenticated docu- 
ment, containing the repeal of the Berlin and Milan decrees, on 
which he deems himself bound to repeal the orders in council. 
But in the instrument which he issues on the subject, he express- 
ly reserves the right of restoring those orders, " if circumstances 
shall so require.''^ On these " circumstances''' he, of course, is to 
decide. These " circumstances'^ are wholly independent of" re- 
taliation ,•" provision being made in the subsequent part of the 
paragraph expressly for "■' retaliation'' in a distinct clause. It 
therefore appears that the orders in council were, in strict tech- 
nical language, never repealed. They were merely suspended 
till "circumstances should require" their revival. 

No candid reader can, I presume, deny that the above is fair 
reasoning. This, therefore, cannot be regarded as a " repeal^"* 
in the sense in which this nation had a right to expect the orders 
in council to be " repealed^"* according to the British pledge, to 
proceed pari passu with the repeal of the French decrees. The 
orders in council might have been " restored^' in one month af- 
ter the date of this instrument, according to its tenor, " if cir- 
cumstances should have so required^'' without our government 
having anv just reason to complain of breach of faith on the part 
of that of Great Britain. There never was a public document 
more cautiously worded. And had it arrived here previous to 
the declaration of war, this country would have been perfectly 
warranted in refusing to regard it as " a repeal^ To meet and 
to fulfil the idea held out in the previous pledges of the British 
government, the repeal ought to have been unconditional, except 
the reservation of a right to renew the orders in council in the 
one specific case of the revival of the French decrees. 

It is a remarkable fact respecting this repeal, that in the de- 
bates upon it in the British parliament, the mighty wrongs in- 



CHAP. 6.] MR. GALLATIN. 63 

flicted by the orders In council upon this country formed hardly 
any part of the reasons whereon the adoption of the measure was 
urged. Even Mr. Brougham, the powerful opponent of the or- 
ders, and the mover of the address for their "re/^m/," founded 
his arguments, in his published speech, wholly on the injurious 
effects experienced in England by t!ie loss of our trade. It is 
true, he once glances at the injustice of the orders, but it is very 
slightly and altogether incidentally. He does not boldly and 
magnanimously expose them to reprobation on the ground of 
their violation of our rights, as Mr. Barmg had done in his ce- 
lebrated pamphlet. 

But as the president admitted the instrume7it to be a repeal^ It 
was, I repeat, to be deeply regretted, that he did not accept the 
armistice, and trust to subsequent negociation for redress on the 
subject of impressment, flis admission of it iff that point of 
light, precluded him from employing the solid objection to which 
it was liable. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Appointment of 3Ir. Gallatin as minister to treat with Great Bri- 
tain. Negociation at Gottenburg. Recent neglect of due pre- 
parations. 

The appointment of Mr. Gallatin as minister to treat with the 
court of St. James's was a very considerable error. This gen- 
tleman has had the reputation, probably .with justice, of being 
one of the ablest financiers in this country. For twelve years, 
he had presided over the financial concerns of the nation, during 
which period, moderate talents' were adequate to the duties of 
that station. But a crisis had arrived when the abilities of a 
Colbert, or a Sullv, or a Ximenes, might be necessary ; and most 
injudiciously and indefensibly he was then despatched to another 
hemisphere ; and his duties devolved ad interim on another offi- 
cer, whose proper official duties require all his time and all his 
talents. 

This measure was highly preposterous. It was incorrect in 
the president to confer, it was equally incorrect in the secretary 
to receive, the appointment. It was the less defensible, from the 
circumstance, that nearly all the democrats in the United States 
had, in 1T94, utterly disapproved of, and declaimed against, the 
appointment, by general Washington, of judge Jay, to negociate 
a treatv with Great Britain, pending his continuance as a judge. 
It is moreover obvious, that the absence of one judge cannot pro- 
duce any material inconvenience ; as there are always others to 
supply his place. But there are high and responsible duties at- 
tached to the office of secretary of the treasury, which can never, 
without very great impropriety, be devolved on a deputy. I 
pass over all but the transcendent one of remitting fines and for- 



6i POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 6^ 

feitures, too high a power probably to he trusted to any Indivi- 
dual whatever, not excepting even the secretary himselt.* 

Negociation at Gottenburg, 

At a period when it was of immense importance to the United 
States to close the war as speedily as possible, the president had 
the alternative of London or Gottenburg as the scene ot nego- 
ciation. We had been unfortunate by land, through treason, 
incapacity, or some other c:iuse. It was our interest to accele- 
rate — it was that of the British to procrastinate the negociations. 
The chances from clelay were much in their favour. War is, 
moreover, a component part of their system. Ours is calculated 
for peace. These observations acquired treble force from a re- 
flection on the disafTection of the eastern portion of the union, and 
its aversion to_ the war. Of course, we ought to have shunned 
whatever might produce delay. It was therefore most extraor- 
dinary and unaccountable, that the president should have chosen 
Gottenburg in preference to London, under all the obvious de- 
lays resulting from the necessity that would probably arise, or 
be pretended, to consult the court of St. James's, by the minis- 
ters of that court. It appears almost as absurd as it would be 
to choose the Havanna, or Port Royal, were the negociations to 
be conducted on this side of the Atlantic. This was the more 
erroneous, from the consideration that the fate of large portions 
of our territory, and the lives of hundreds of valuable citizens, 
might depend upon the delay of a single day. 

Shortly after the annunciation of the choice of Gottenburg, 
there was a paragraph published here, extracted from a London 
newspaper, stating that twenty mails were then actually due 
from that place at London, owing to the continued prevalence 
of adverse winds. This was an unanswerable proof, if any were 
necessary, of the impropriety of the choice of Gottenburg. 

Neglect of due preparations for the defence of the country after 
the downfall of Bonaparte. 

Under this head, the president and the heads of departments 
were still more culpable than under any of the former ones. 

From the period of the downfall of Bonaparte, and the com- 
plete triumph of Great Britain and her allies, it was obvious to 
the meanest capacity, that her powers of annoyance had increas- 
ed prodigiously. The immense forces raised to aid the coali- 
tion against France were liberated from all employment but 
against us. And of the disposition of England to continue the 
war, we had the most convincing indications. The British 
newspapers were replete with denunciations of vengeance against 

* See the luminous essays on this subject by W. B. Giles, esq, which are 
I'feplete with, the most convincing- and UHanswerable arguments. 



CHAP.«.5 SUPINENESS. 6j^ 

US, and with statements of immense preparations for our chas- 
tisement. And to crown the whole — to remove all possible 
doubt on the subject— to deprive us and our rulers of all plea in 
justification of our torpor, apathy, and neglect, the lords of the 
admiralty published an address to the navy, stating, as a reason 
for not discharging so many seamen as the return of peace in 
Europe might have warranted, that the war existing with this 
country for the maritime rights of the British Empire, rendered 
such a measure improper. I annex a short extract from the ad- 
dress : 

London, April, 30, 1814. 
•' The lords commissioners of the admiralty regret that the unjust and i/n- 
provoked aggression of the AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, in declaring war 
.upon this country, after all the causes of its original complaint had been revio'oedp 
does not permit them to reduce the fleet at once to a peace establistiment- 
But as the question now at issue in this war, is the inaintenance of those mari- 
time rights, vihi$h are the sure foundation of our national glory, their lordships 
look with confidence to that part of the fleet which it may be still necessary 
to keep in commission, for a continuance of that spirit of discipline and gal- 
lantry, which has raised the British navy to its present pre-eminence." 

"J. W. CROKER." 

Notwithstanding these symptoms of an impending hurricane, 
an extraordinary delusion almost universally prevailed through- 
out the nation, of which it is hardly possible to produce a parallel. 
Numbers of our most enlightened citizens, knowing that the res- 
toration of peace in Europe had removed all the ostensible causes 
of war, and placing full reliance upon the magnanimity of Great 
Britain, predicated all their arrangements on a speedy and hon- 
ourable peace. Purchases and sales of property to an incalcula- 
ble amount, were made under this soothing expectation. And 
we were lulled into a state of the most perfect security, as if all 
our dangers had utterly subsided— the temple of Janus were 
about to be closed — and every man were to convert his sword 
into a plough-share. 

To such a degree was this infatuation carried, that authentic 
information of the sailing of hostile armaments produced no ef- 
fect to diminish it. We were gravely told, that it was quite in 
character for nations to assume an energetic and formidable atti- 
tude pending negociations ; that the expense to England of send- 
ing these armaments was inconsiderable ; that they would be re- 
called as soon as a treaty was signed ; and, in fine, that she was 
too magnanimous to take advantage of the existing state of things 
— with an endless variety of arguments and assertions^ equally 
profound^ convincing^ and cogent. 

There were infinite pains taken by the friends of England in 
this country, to foster and extend this delusion. Their efforts 
were crowned with the most complete success. The nation fell 
into the snare with a degree of cullibility that afforded a practical 
commentary on our pretensions to illumination, superior to the 
rest of the world. 



•66 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 6. 

These deceits were varied with an address and industrj, wor- 
thy of a better cause. They assumed every shape, from an hum- 
ble six-penny paragraph, extracted from a London papt-r, to an 
important public document. Extracts of letters innumerable, 
from " eminent merchants'' in London, Liverpool, and Glas- 
gow, to merchants oi equal eminence in Boston, New York, Phil- 
adelphia, and Baltimore, were published with most confident as- 
surances of the immediate appointment of commissioners, to ne- 
gociate with ours, on terms comporting with the magnanimity of 
England, and perfectly honourable to the United States. Letters 
were said likewise to have been received from Mr. Gallatin,, 
full of assurances of peace, which Great Britain would grant on 
terms more favourable than when she was pressed by the power 
of Bonaparte. All these tales, how wild or extravagant soever, 
were greedily caught at and believed by our citizens, as they 
flattered and coincided with their ardent desire of peace. So 
justly sings the poet, 

" What we wish to be true, we are fond to believe." 

Several times we were deluded with information that Admiral 
Cochrane had received despatches announcing an approaching 
armistice, and his consequent recal from the American station. 
In a word, no pains were spared to lull us into a most profound 
sleep ; and the opiates operated most powerfully. 

During all this deceitful calm, through which every man of 
discernment might readily and unerringly foresee the approaches 
of a fearful storm — as every indication from England, deserving 
of credit, portended a long, a desperate, and a vindictive warfare; 
the government of the United States took no measures to dis- 
pel the delusion. In vain the public looked to Washington for 
information on the prospect of affairs. All was there profoundly 
silent. Government must have had all the information on the 
subject that was in this country: and it was their incumbent duty 
to have disseminated abroad the result of their intelligence, that 
the public might regulate their proceedings, and predicate their 
measures on rational and prudential calculations. But this im- 
perious duty was, I venture to assert, utterl}' neglected. There 
was not a line of official communication on the subject. And 
nothing appeared in the National Intelligencer which strongly 
marked either a probability of peace, or a continuance of the 
war. As far, however, as conclusions could be drawn from this 
semi-official paper, they warranted much more the hope of a re- 
storation of peace, than fear of the contrary. 

This conduct, on the part of the administration, was to the last 
degree culpable. It was a dereliction of duty that exposed our 
citizens to ruinous consequences. The Philadelphians were 
among the most deluded portion of the people of the United 
States. There were no preparations made for defence except 
the embodying a number of volunteer corps, very inefficient in- 



cwAp. 7.^ PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS. & 

deed to protect us. And I shudder to think what might have 
been the consequences, had the enemy assailed us while we were 
thus napping in a state of stupid and most irrational security. 

The crash of the conflagration at Washington, awaked us out 
of our slumbers, and dispelled the delusion. — We were then 
aroused to a full sense of our dangerous situation, and of the folly 
and supineness that had caused it. We went manfully to work 
— and in a few weeks made such preparations as renewed public 
confidence, and promised fair to enable us to repel the enemy, 
should he make his appearance. 

CHAPTER Vir. 

General Wilkhisoii and General Hampton. Proceedings of Con- 
gress. Lamentable torpor^ delay y and indecision. Neglect of 
public opinion. 

In military affairs, when combined operations are undertaken, 
it is indispensably necessary, in order to insure success, that a 
good understanding should prevail between the commanders who 
are to co-operate. A want of due attention to this obvious dic- 
tate of prudence and common sense, has caused the failure, 
among various nations, of expeditions of the utmost importance. 
It is one of those plain rules, which can hardly escape the dis- 
cernment of a man of even mediocre capacity. 

Nevertheless, the northern campaign of 1813, was intrusted 
to Gen. Wilkinson, and Gen. Hampton, between whom existed 
a high degree of hostility, which was sufficiently well known, to 
have pointed out the absurdity of the procedure. The issue of 
the campaign was disastrous. And it is not improbable that a 
large portion, perhaps the whole of the disaster, arose from the 
neglect of a rule so very rational, that it is astonishing how it 
could have been overlooked. 

Proceedings of Congress, 

Among the grievous sins of the ruling party, I know of none 
much more culpable than the shocking and miserable mode in 
which the proceedings of Congress were managed during the ses- 
sion of 1814-15. Whatever was the urgency of the public bu- 
siness, how ruinous soever might be delay, it was utterly impos- 
sible to inspire that body with a due degree of energy or promp- 
titude. Week after week, and month after month, passed over— 
and the public anxiously, but in vain, expected remedies to be 
applied to the disorders of the state. To a most culpable spirit 
of procrastination, and the miserable itch of speaking, this 
wretched waste of time and neglect of the public embarrassments 
mav be fairly ascribed. 

Two or three powerful orators on each side take a comprehen- 
sive view of a subject. They exhaust it completely. They arc 



68 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 7, 

followed by a crowd of speakers^ who are unable to throw any 
new or important light on it — and whose speeches stand in the 
same relation to those of the early orators, that a hash warmed 
over a second or third time does to the original noble sirloin, of 
whose fragments it is formed. And thus is the money of the 
nation expended, and its hopes frustrated, merely that Mr. A, 
and Mr. B, and Mr. C, and Mr. D, may have opportunities of 
making long speeches to prove to their constituents how wisely 
they have selected representatives ! 

I have not before me the debates of the British parliament — 
and therefore cannot with full confidence state what is actually 
their mode of proceeding. But it is strongly impressed on my 
mind, that they generally decide on questions at one sitting.— 
This at least I can aver with the utmost certainty, that many of 
the most momentous questions, involving the interests of 
80,000,000 of people,* have been thus decided, after a debate 
from three o'clock in the afternoon, till three or four in the morn- 
ing. And in the debates on these subjects, some of the greatest 
men in Europe have displayed their talents on both sides — Ers- 
kine, and Fox, and Grey — Pitt, and Burke, and Wyndham.— 
Whereas one of our speechifiers will sometimes occupy eight, 
ten, or twelve hours, sometimes two days, with a single speech. 

A large portion of the people of this country have taken oppo- 
site sides respecting England, her manners, and her customs.—- 
One party admires and copies — the other censures and despises 
almost every thing British — I'hey are both in equal error. En- 
gland presents much to admire and imitate — much to censure 
and avoid. It is highly desirable we should imitate her in the 
management of her parliamentary proceedings. 

As respects the business of Congress, a decisive remedy ought 
to be applied. The debates ought to be limited within reasona- 
ble bounds. When they have been sufficiendy extended, they 
ought to be terminated by the previous question, notwithstanding 
the clamour and outcry of the minority. And whenever the 
emergency of the case requires promptitude, the sitting ought to 
be continued till the subject is decided, unless its comphcation 
and difficulty may render an adjournment necessary. 

What a lamentable prospect the country exhibited at the mo- 
ment these lines were written ! It was the sixth of December. 
Congress had been in session nearly three months. — They found 
the credit of the government laid prostrate — the seaboard expo- 
sed to depredation — the pay of the army in arrears — and every 
thing in a situation that was calculated to excite energy and de- 
cision among a nation of Sybarites. And what was the result? 
There had probably been one or two hundred flowery speeches 

• Including' its East India possessions, the above is the number of the sm1> 
jects of the British empire. 



CHAP. 7.] PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS. 69" 

made — amendments and postponements innumerable — and only 
two important acts passed — one for borrowing three millions of 
dollars — and the other for buying or building twenty schooners. 

To those who were actuated by a sincere regard for the wel- 
fare and safety of their country, these proceedings were a source 
of the most poignant uneasiness. They were utterly unaccount- 
able, and irreconcilable with the plainest dic.tates of reason and 
common sense. Laying aside all considerations of public spirit 
or patriotism, a due regard to personal interest and personal 
safety, ought to have prescribed a totally different line of con- 
duct. 

The majority, imbecile and feeble, endeavoured to shelter 
themselves by censuring the factious and turbulent minority who 
made these long speeches for the purpose of embarrassing them, 
and protracting their debates and proceedings. This plea cannot 
bear examination. Were it valid, a minority of six or eight 
persons, possessed of the faculty of making " lo7ig talks.^^'* might 
at all times totally baffle a majority, and paralize the operations of 
government. Suppose each member of the minority to make a 
speech of a day or two on every subject that arose for discus- 
sion — allow a reasonable time for replication to the majority 

and the whole year would be inadequate for that portion of bu- 
siness which the British parliament would with ease despatch in 
a month. 

Besides the procrastination arising from the displays of ora- 
tory which I have stated, there is another source of delay, 
equally injurious. Private and trifling business obtrudes itself 
on the attention of congress, and occupies a large portion of the 
time which is loudly called for by the important affairs of the 
nation. The former ought never to be allowed to interfere inju- 
riously with the important concerns of the nation. 

Here I must notice one particular case, of the most extraordi- 
nary kind that ever occupied the attention of a public body.— 
Never was there a greater mockery of a deliberative assembly, 
A stud horse, called Romulus, belonging to a Mr. David Dar- 

din, was impressed by a continental officer, in the year 1781. 

Having been valued at 750 pounds specie, General Greene, dis- 
gusted by the extravagance of the price, returned him. He was 

afterwards impressed by another officer, and never returned. 

The widow of the owner, Mrs. Amy Dardin, has been a very 
assiduous applicant to congress for remuneration from that pe- 
riod ; and the subject has, at various sessions, occupied a large 
portion of the time of that body. The wages of congress during 
the time of the debates, would, I am persuaded, purchase horses 
lor the best appointed regiment of dragoons in Christendom.— 
A worthy member from Virginia used to ride Romulus into 
congress in great state, every year during his life. He is now 
no more. Who has been appointed " master of the horse" in 
O. B. 11 



\ 



70 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH- [chaf. 7. 

his place, I cannot state. But that he has a successor, is be- 
yond a doubt ; tor Dardin's horse was curvetting and prancing 
as usual, even during the late very important session. 

A gentleman to whom I mentioned this circumstance, informs 
me, that in the year 1802 and 1803, there were two pamphlets 
published on this sul)ject, at the expense of the nation, for the 
use of the mcmbem^ the cost of which would perhaps have paid 
for the horse. 

To render this procedure more culpable, as well as more far- 
cical, the senate of the United States was on the 7th or 8th or 
9th of February, 1815, when every moment of its time was in- 
expressibly invaluable, gravely debating a bill for the remunera- 
tion of Mrs. Dardin ! And it was then within a month of the 
close of its session — and had made no provision for the defence 
of our cities, liable to hourly destruction, nor for the restoration 
of public credit ! The mind is lost in the most profound asto- 
nishment and indignation at the contemplation of such a futile, 
such a puerile mode of managing public business. The annals 
©f legislation can hardly produce any parallel. 

One of the two things. The claim is just or unjust. If the 
former, it is disgraceful and dishonourable not to have discharg- 
ed it. If otherwise, it is truly insufferable to have the public 
taxed by such importunity. 

Neglect of public Opinion* 

Of all the errors of the two administrations of Mr. Jefferson 
and Mr. Madison, the least criminal, but probably the most per- 
nicious in its results, is, the indifference they have displayed to- 
wards the unfounded allegations whereby they were borne down, 
and their reputation and usefulness destroyed. This may have 
arisen from an absurd reliance on the good sense of the public — - 
or on the rectitude of their own intentions — perhaps from their 
indolence or inattention. It was probably founded, if it arose 
from either of the two first motives, upon a trite, but fallacious 
maxim, which antiquity hath bequeathed us— "Truth is great, 
and will prevail." Millions of times has this captivating maxim 
been pronounced ; and it is almost universally admitted as in- 
controvertible. Yet the history of the world in almost every 
page bears testimony to its fallacy. Truth, unaided by indus- 
try, and activity, and energy, combats at very unequal odds 
against falsehood, supported by these auxiliaries. That truth, 
" other things being equal," is an overmatch for falsehood, I 
freely grant. But the friends of the former, if they rely wholly 
on its intrinsic merits, and do not exercise a due degree of vigi- 
lance, will be miserably deceived in their calculations. 

A supposed case in point. A matron is charged with having 
been seen entering a brothel in the face of day, with a notorious 
seducer. The story spreads. It is universally believed. Her 



CHAP. 7] PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS. U 

character is destroyed. She is shunned as contaminatory. Six 
months afterwards, she produces a host of unexceptionable wit- 
nesses to prove an alibi. They establish, incontrovenibly, that 
at the time stated, and for months before and after, she was in 
China, or Japan. It is in vain. Her character is gone. The 
waters of the Atlantic would not purif\' her. She pa\ s for her 
neglect and folly, the mighty forfeit of a destroyed reputation. 

Thus has it been with the administrations of Mr. Jefferson 
and Mr. Madison. They have been charged with criminal con- 
duct, frequently of the most flagrant kind. The charges have 
been passed over in silence for a considerable time. Not being 
denied, they were presumed to be admitted. And in fact, how 
can the public determine, whether silence under accusation arises 
from conscious guilt, a reliance upon conscious rectitude, or aa 
absurd and criminal neglect of public opinion ? 

I say," a criminal neg-iect o/' public opinion.'''' This declara- 
don is not lightly hazarded. The character of a public officer is 
in some sort public property. A private person may perhaps 
allow his to be destroyed, without inflicting misfortune on any 
person but himself. But the destruction ot that of a public offi- 
cer is really a public injury — as it materially impairs, if it does 
not destroy, his usefulness. 

There is in the history of General Washington, a circumstance 
which appears a departure from the sound, masculine good sense 
that almost universally presided over his conduct. During the 
revolutionary war, some of the British emissaries published a 
collection of letters ascribed to him, which were partly genuine, 
but interpolated with forgeries, and partly letters altoge;her for- 
ged. They were calculated to inspire strong doubts of his devo- 
tion to, and confidence in, the revolution. They were edited by 
a masterly pen. 

The attack was unavailing. The attachment to, and confi- 
dence in, the general, were unimpaired. The pamphlet sunk 
into oblivion. 

In the year 1795, during the discussion excited by Jay's trea- 
ty, it was reprinted as a genuine collection, and had an extensive 
circulation, in order to depreciate the character of the general. 
He did not at the time notice it. He allowed it to tske its 
course, apparendy indifferent as to the consequences. But at 
the close of his public functions, he recorded in the office of the 
secretary of state a formal denunciation of the forgery. This 
procedure was higldy injudicious. If the pamphlet were enti- 
tled to any animadversion, the proper period was that of its re- 
publication, and when of course it would produce all the injury 
that could result from it to his public character. 

The instances of neglects of this kind on the part of Mr. Jef- 
ferson and Mr. Madison, are numberless. I shall only instance 
two. A charge was alleged against the former, of having sent 



72 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cha?. 7. 

two millions of dollars to France^^for some secret and sinister 
purpose, which I cannot now recollect. It had been in universal 
circulation throughout the union, without any formal or satisfac- 
tory contradiction, for many months. At length, after it had 
done all the mischief it was calculated to produce, an authentic 
documental disproof crept out, exactly like the lady's alibi^ and 
with the same effect. 

One other instance, and I have done with this part of my sub- 
ject. The offer of the Russian mediation was made by M. 
Daschkoff in March, 1813. Mr. Pickering shordy afterwards 
published in Boston, a series of letters on the subject, which 
were republished in almost every town and city of the United 
States. He openly and unqualifiedly asserted that the whole 
transaction was a fraud and imposture — solely calculated to de- 
lude the citizens into subscriptions for the pending loan. — He 
denied the offer of a mediation altogether, and boldly referred to 
M. Daschkoff and Dr. Logan, to prove his statements correct. 
If ever an accusation demanded attention and disproval, this was 
of that description. It was advanced under his own signature, 
by a man who had held high official stations, and who possessed 
very considerable standing with the opposers of the government. 
But the same fatal and unpardonable neglect prevailed as in so 
many other instances. The allegation was allowed to produce 
its full effect without any other attempt at counteraction, than 
a few anonymous paragraphs of denial. 

To render this error more palpable, a motion was made in the 
senate of the United States, on the 2d of June, 1813, for a d.s- 
closure of the correspondence. Of this motion to bring the real 
state of the affair before the public, the government ought to 
have gladly availed iiself. But it was rejected. 

At length, when the affair had in some measure sunk into ob- 
livion, on the 18th of January, 1814, a motion was carried in the 
house of Representatives of the United States, for the publica- 
tion of the correspondence on the subject. It then appeared 
that the accusation was calumnious and unfounded— and that the 
transaction reflected a high degree of credit as well on the potent 
monarch, who took so warm an interest in our affairs, as on our 
government, for its prompt acceptance of the offer of mediation. 
But the disclosure was too late to counteract any ot the perni- 
cious effects that had resulted from the calumny. Many per- 
sons to this day believe the whole transaction to have been a de-* 
ception. 



CHAT. 8.] CAPTURE OF "WASHINGTON. 7^ 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Capture of Washington. Causes. Mismanagement, Fort-^ 
Washington. Trial of Captain Dyson. Extraordinary Sen- 
tence. Loans. Injury of Public Credit. Retrospection. 

Capture of Washington. 

On the 24th of August, 1814, the capital of the United States 
was taken by the enemy. His force was by no means of such 
magnitude as would have prevented the disaster from being ac- 
companied by disgrace. Had it been overwhelming, the loss 
might have excited regret, but we should have been spated mor- 
tification and dishonour. But as it stands a subject for historical 
record, the loss, although very great, is undeserving of consider- 
ation. Placed beside the disgrace, it sinks into insignificance 
like a molehill beside a mountain. 

The force of the enemy is variously stated. The highest es- 
timate is 6,000. Dr. Catlett, who had a favourable opportuni- 
ty of ascertaming with precision, states it at 3,540. Every per- 
son with whom I have conversed, that saw them, has been of 
opinion that they were so jaded with their march, and so dispi* 
rited, that, had suitable preparations been made, they might 
have been easily defeated, and probably captured. 

They landed at Benedict, on the 18th of August, and proceed- 
ed in a tolerably regular course towards Washington, which was 
the only object worthy of their attention. They were six days 
on their march. And there was hardly any preparation for their 
reception, till three or four days before their arrival at that city. 
The secretary at war ridiculed the idea of their attacking Wash- 
ington, till within three days of the battle of Bladensburg. 

One obvious plan of defence, which would have struck the 
mind of a mere tyro in military affairs, was to have garrisoned 
the capitol and the president's house, with as powerful a force as 
could have conveniently operated there. The strength of these 
two buildings would have enabled the garrisons to withstand any 
assault, and defend themselves, until troops could have been col- 
lected to encounter the enemv. 

It is not for me to decide on whom the censure ought to fall — 
on the president — the secretary at war — on the district general, 
Winder — or on the whole together. But let that point be de- 
termined as it may, it cannot be denied, that nothing but the 
most culpable neglect could have led to the results that took 
place— —results which could not fail to prove injurious to the 
national character in Europe, and which, had not the news 
of the exploits of the brave and illustrious Macdonough and Ma- 
comb, arrived there cotemporaneouslv ^vith the account of this 
disgraceful disaster, would have materially and perniciously af- 
fected the negociation at Gheisti 



74 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 8. 

When the preceding strictures were written, I had not seen 
the Keport ol the Committee appointed to investigate the sub- 
ject, which I have recently examined with attention. It is clear- 
ly established by the documents annexed to this report, that the 
disasters arose from a series of the most extraordinary and un- 
accountable mismanagement. I shall enumerate a few of the in- 
stances in brief. 

Let me previously observe, that a cabinet council was held at 
Washington, on the 1st of July, wherein it was resolved to esta- 
blish a new military district, to comprise the cities of Washing- 
ton, Baltimore, and the adjacent country. The command of it 
was given to general Winder, who had explicit directions to 
make preparations to repel the enemy, should he make any at- 
tempt on the seat of government, which the council judged high- 
ly probable. 

Among the errors committed, the following are the most pro- 
minent: 

1. There was no attempt to fortify those parts of the country 
calculated for defence, although General Van Ness, on behalf of 
the citizens of the District of Columbia, had made repeated and 
earnest applications to the secretary at war on the subject, and 
although the latter had as repeatedly promised to pay attention 
to their requests. 

2. There was not the slightest effort to arrest the progress of 
the enemy, from the time of his debarkation till the day of the 
battle of Bladensburg, although the country through which he 
passed was admirably calculated for the purpose. 

3. There was no camp formed equidistantly between Balti- 
more and Washington, so as to be able to cover and protect 
either or both places. 

4. The troops from Baltimore were not ordered out in due 
season. Had the orders been, as most indubitably they ought 
to have been, issued at least on the debarkation of the enemy, 
these troops would have arrived in proper time — been fit for du- 
ty — and rescued the country from the disgrace and misfortune it 
experienced. 

5. The orders for the Baltimore troops to march, were recei- 
ved in Baltimore on Saturday the 20th of August. They took 
up the line of march the next day, Sunday the 21st. On that 
evening' they received an order from General Winder^ by express^ 
TO HALT UNTIL FURTHER ORDERS ! Next day, they had renew- 
ed orders to march with full speed to Bladensburg. — Those to 
general Stansbury were received at 10 A. M. and those to colo- 
nel Sterrett at 2 P. M. The former reached Bladensburg on 
the 22d at night — the latter on the 23d at night. The fatal de- 
lay arising from the orders to halt, was among the principal 
causes of the disaster. Colonel Sterrett's corps arrived on the 
ground jaded, fatigued, and harassed. They had but little rest 



CHAP. 8.] CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON. ?4 

the night previous to the battle, owing to some false alarms, and 
were in every respect unfit for being led into the engagement. 

6. Colonel Young's brigade, by order of general Winder, was 
stationed at a distance from the field of battle, where it remained 
inactive during the whole time of the engagement, although with- 
in hearing of the report of the cannon. 

7. An efficient corps of 600 infantry, and 100 cavalry, under 
colonel Miner, arrived at Washington on the evening preceding 
the battle. The colonel applied to general Armstrong for arms, 
and was directed to report hirnseifthe next morning 1 1 ! to co- 
lonel Carberry, who had the care of the arsenal. This gentle- 
man sptnt the night at his country seat, and was not to be found 
in the morning, although invaluable hours were spent in search- 
ing for him. At length an order for arms was procured from ge- 
neral Winder. Even then delay occurred, from the scrupulosi- 
ty of colonel CarBerry's deputy in counting the flints— and fur- 
ther delay in giving receipt for them. The consequence was, 
that this corps, which would, almost to a certainty, have decided 
the fate of the day in fiivour of its country, began its march so 
late, as to have no share whatever in the action, and met the re- 
treating army after its defeat ! ! ! 

8. Had a stand been made in Washington, and the whole 
force, even discomfited as it was, been collected together, there 
is no doubt but the loss might have been retrieved. But there 
was not the slightest eflfort of the kind made. The retreat was 
conducted in a disorderly manner, and as much like a flight as 
could be. 

Throughout this work, in all important cases, I do not merely 
refer to my authorities, as is usually done. I quote as well as 
refer to them. I am desirous of silencing incredulity herself. 
In pursuance of this plan, I submit a few short extracts from the 
documents published by Congress, on which the preceding views 
are founded. 

Extracts from the letter of general Van Ness, to the cominittee of Congress, ap' 
pointed to inquire into the causes of the capture of Washington, dated November 
23, 1814. 

" About the opening' of the present campaign, I pressed again upon the 
secretary the subject generally of our defence ; suggesting, in addition to the 
occlusion of the river, the convenience sxxd importance of a central catnp, in- 
termediate befween Baltimore, Annapolis, Washington, Alexandria, Georgetoitin, 
and the neighbouring towns and country. And in frequent interviews (in num- 
ber, to be sure, very much increased by the importunate applications and 
solicitations to me, of both the civil and military branches of the community, 
whose confidence in the secretary appeared, at an early period, at best wa- 
vering, if not declining) sometimes official, at other times not so, which I 
had with him, as the campaign progressed, I did not fail to repeat the sug- 
gestion. I still received assurances, generally verbal, favourable, accompa- 
nied by an otherwise apparent indifference, and confidence in our security."" 

* Report, page 28r. 



76 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 8. 

" Thus liad the campaign prog-ressed, without any visible steps towards 
■vVorks af defence, either permanent or temporary, either on the land or wa- 
ter side (I never having heard of a spade or an axe being struck in any such opera- 
tion) Of t'.iwards formiiij^ a rendezvous or camp of regular troops in the neigh- 
bourhood, to the great anxiety-, inquietude, and alarjn of the district and surround- 
ing country ; the secretary generally tr- ating with indifference at Least, if not idth 
levity, the idea of an attack by the enemy."* 

"In August last, when the increased and reinforced fleet, with the troops, 
ascended the Chesapeake, and were known, from authentic information, to 
have entered the Patuxent, I called on secretary Armstrong again ; and ex- 
pressed, as usual, my apprehensions, arismg from want of means and prepa- 
rations ; addmg, that from the known naval and reputed land force of the 
enemy, he probably meant to strike a serious blow. His reply was, "Oh 
yes ! by G-d, they would not come viith such a fleet 'without meaning to strike som.e- 
where': but they certainly will not come here. What the d — I will they do here ?" 
iSfc. After remarking that I differed very much from him, as to the proba- 
ble interest they felt in destroying or capturing our seat of government, and 
that I believed a visit to this place would, for several reasons, be a fa\ ourite 
object with them, he observed, " no, no ! Baltimore i^ the place, sir ; that 
13 of so much more consequence."! 

" I continued to see general Winder occasionally as before, and to be as- 
tonished at the apparent sluggishness or procrastination in tlie preparation 
for the reception of the enemy, who was on his advance. I recollect well, 
that even after he had, according to authentic and undoubted information, as- 
cended to the head of the ship navigation of the Patuxent, and iiad, for about 
twenty-four hours, been debarking on the hither bank of that river, and 
marching his troops to their encampment ou the heights of Benedict (about 
forty miles from this on the usual route) general W in answer to an enqui- 
ry of mine, whether he had ordered on any troops from Baltimore, and whe- 
ther he thought they would be here in time, said, THAT THEY WERE 
ORDERED ON; AND THAT ALL HIS FEAR WAS, THAT THEY 
WOULD BE HERE TOO SOON. Expressing to liim my astonishment at 
the appreliension, lie said he thought it very probable that the enemy would 
suddenly turn about, and make a blow at Baltimore.' '| 

Extract from General Stansbury's Report. 

"The men under my command were worn down, and nearly exhausted 
from long and forced marches, want of food, and watching. They had been t 
nuith very little intermission, under arms, and inarching, from, the time of their de- 
parturefrom Bahiniore, with but little sleep, bad provisions, and but little oppor- 
tunity to cook. They certainly were not in a situation to g-o into battle; but 
my orders were positive ; and I was determined to obey them. 

" Before, and during the action, I did not see any of the force I was led to ex- 
pect would support me- I understood since, they were on their way to my as^ 
sistance, and I presume exertions were made to bring them up."§ 

Extract from. Colonel Miner's Report. 

" I took up my line of march, and arrived at the capitol between sunset 
and dark, [ Aug . 23.] and imnaediately made my way to the president, and 
reported my arrival ; when he referred me to general Armstrong, to whom I 
repaired, and informed him as to the strength of the troops, as well as to the 
want of arms, ammunition, &c. which made it as late as early candle-light ; 
when I was informed by that gentleman, the arms, &c. could not be had 
that night, and directed to report viyself next morning to colonel Carberry, who 
would furnish me with ariris, he. wliich gentleman, from early ntxt morn- 
ing, I diligently sought for, until a late hour in the forenoon, without being 
able to find him, and tiien went in search of general Winder, whom I found 
near the Eastern Brancli ; when he gave an order to the armourer for the 
munitions wanting, with orders to return to the capitol, there to wait further 
. orders."^ 

* Report, page 288. f Idem, page 292. \ Idem, page 295. 

§ Idem, page 185. i{ idem, page 231. 



cHiAP. 8] CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON. 77 

Extract from the Report of Doctor Catlctt. 

"Respecting the condition of the enemy's troops, I was informed by several 
of the Hritisli officers, that just previous to their reaching Rludcnsburp- (with 
excessive fatig-ue or entire exhaustion) they -luere dropping off in considerubk num- 
bers ; that in the action, it was on/i/ bij tlie most exlraordinuvy exertio7is that the 
main body cotdd be goaded on. Altlioug'h I observed some of their flankers at 
times advance on the run a small distance, these were said to be only the most 
active of their light companies of, and attaclied to, their eig-htj fifth regiment, 
commanded by lieutenant-colonel Thornton, acting as brigadier ; tliey appeared 
to me to halt, as if exhausted -with futigite, at or near the place where the .firing 
ceased on our part, about a mile and a half on this side of Bladeiisburg, about two 
o'clock, P. M."* 

Extract from the Report of the Committee of congress on the capture of Wash- 
ington. 

" Our forces at this time at tlie Old Fields, are variously estimated, with no 
material diflerence, at about tin-ee thousand men, in the following corps: about 
four hundred horse, under the command of the following- of!ii ers : lieutenant- 
colonel Lavall, colonel Tilman, captains Cakh\'ell, Thornton, Herbert, Williams, 
&c : four hundred regular tro()])s, under the coniniand of lieutenant-colonel 
Scott, viz thii-ty-sixth, thirty-eighth, and captain Morgan's company of the 
twelfth infantry ; six hundred marines and flotilla men under commodore Barney 
and captain Miller, with five pieces of heavy artillery ; two eighteen pounders 
and three twelve poundei-s : one thousand eight hundred militia and volunteers, 
general Smith's brigade of (ieoi-getown and city militia, and Mar\land militia 
under colonel Kramer, of which there were two companies of artilhrv imder 
captain Burch and major Peter, with six six pounders eacli, making aii aggre- 
gate of three thousand two hundred, with seventeen pieces of artijlery. "^ The 
enemy tvas -without cavalry, and had c-wo small field pieces and one ho-a-itzer,xlra~vn 
by men ; and the -whole country ivell calculated for defence, skinnisldng, and to im- 
pede the march of an euemy."\ 

" The march of our army to the city was extremely rapid and precipitate : 
and orders were occasionally given to captains of companies to hurry on the 
men, who were extremely fatigued and exjiausted before the camping ground 
was reached, near the Eastern Branch bridge, witliin the district of (.'ohnnbia."^: 

" Colonel George Miner, with his reg'iment of ^'irg•inia militia, composed of 
six htmdred infantry and one hundred cavalry, arrived at the city of AVashing- 
ton in the twilight of the evening of tlie tweiUy third; he called on the president 
who referred him to the secretary of war for orders ; the secretary i? formed him 
that anns could not be had that night ; but gave orders to report himself to colonel 
Cc.rberry, early in the morning, lolio -n'ould furnisii him -with arms and ammunition, 
as he was charged with that duly by general Winder. From early in the morninc^ 
till late in the forenoon, colonel Miner souglit colonel Carberry diligenth , but 
he could not be f)und. He rode to head quarters, and obtained an order from 
general Winder upon the ai-senal for armSj &c ; and marched to the place with 
his regiment, and its care he found committed to a young man, whose cauAion 
in giving out arms. Sec. very much delayed tlic arming and supplying this vegi- 
ment."'§ 

" The distance from Benedict to the city of Washington, by Bladensburg, is 
upwards of fifty miles. T/ie enemy was without baggage-wagoivs or means of 
transportation ,- his troops vtuch exhausted with fatigue ,- many coinpelled to gidt 
the ranks, and extraordinary exertions used to keep others in motion ,■ and, as if 
imahle to pursue our forces, remained on tlie battle ground : the enemy's advance 
reached the city about eight o'clock in tlic evening-, the battle having ended 
about two o'clock, or before."!] 

" The enemy, on the evening of the twenty -fifth, made the greatest exertions 
to leave the city of Washington. Tliey htid about forty indifferent looking hor- 

* Report, page 311. j Idem, page 21. \ Idem, page 23. 

§ Idem, page 26. IJ Idem, pa^e Si. 

O. B. 12 ' 



rS POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH, [chap. 8- 

ses, ten or twelve carts and wagons, one ox-cart, one coach and several gigs. 
These were sent to Bladensburg to move oft" the wounded. A drove of sixty or 
seventy cattle preceded this party. Arriving at Bladensburg, the British sur- 
geon was ordered to select the wounded who could walk ; the forty horses -were 
mounted by those -who cojild ride ; the carts and ivugons loaded; and iipivards of 
ninety ivounded left behind. About twelve o'clock at night the British army pass- 
ed through Badensburg ; and parties continued until morning, and stragglers 
imtil after mid-day. The retreat of the. enemy to his shipping was precipitate and 
appare7itly under an alarm : and it is supposed that it was known to him that 
our forces had marched to Montgomery court-house."* 

" Ou the twelfth of July, general Winder was authorised, in case of menaced 
or actual invasion, to call into service the whole quota of Maryland. On the 
seventeenth general Winder was authorised to call into actual service not less 
than two nor more than three thousand of the drafts sissigned to his command, 
to form a permanent force to be stationed in some central position between Bal- 
timore and the city of W^ashington. On the same day, seventeenth of July, 
general Windci- was authorised to call on tlie state of Pennsylvania for five thou- 
sand men ; on Virginia, two thousand ; on the mihtia of the district of Colum- 
bia, in a disposable state, two thousand ; together with the six tliousand from 
Maryland, making an aggregate force of fifteen thousand drafted militia, three 
thousand of wliich were anthorisedto be called into actual service ; the residue 
in case of actual or menaced invasion, besides the regular troops estimated at one 
thousand, making sixteen thousand, independent of marines and flotilla-men- 
This was the measure of defence contemplated for the military district No. 10, 
and the measures taken by the war department up to the seventeenth of July 
in execution of it."f 

Destruction of Fort Washington. 

One extraordinary circumstance attended this disastrous affair, 
which deserves to be laid before the public. Fort Washington 
was commanded by captain Dyson, when the British took the city 
of Washington. He had received orders from general Wnider, 
should the enemy come into his rear, to blow up the fort, and 
retreat with his garrison. The enemy came. His orders were 
clear and explicit. He obeyed them — as it appears he was in 
duty bound. 

For this act, he was brought to trial — and sentenced to be dis- 
missed the service. 

I am not a military man, and know nothing of military affairs. 
I am therefore liable to error when I pronounce opinions on them. 
But with due deference to the court martial, whereof " briga- 
dier general Smith, of the militia of the District of Columbia, 
was president," I cannot but believe captain Dyson's case to be 
peculiarly severe : and judging on plain principles of reason and 
common sense, the sentence appears unjust. 

Extract from the report of general Winder. 

" I sent, by major Hite, directions to the commanding officer at fort Wash- 
ington, to advance a guard up to the main road upon all the r»ads leading to 
the fort ; and in the event of his being taken in the rear of the fort by the enemy, to 
blowup the fort, and retire across the river. "% 

* Report, page 36. f Idem, page 38. t Idem, page 172. 



CHAP. 8.] MILITARY MOVEIVfENTS. 79 

I wish to have it understood that I have no personal know- 
ledge of general Armstrong, general Winder, or captain Dyson 
— nor do I believe I have ever seen any of them. 

Departure of general Izard from Plattsburg. 

One of the most extraordinary measures of the war — a mea- 
sure utterly indefensible, — has, as far as I know, almost wholly 
escaped censure. It affords one among ten thousand instances, 
to prove how seldom approbation or censure is meted out with 
due regard to justice. 

General Izard had an army of about 8000 regulars in the 
neighbourhood of Plattsburg. General Prevost, at no very great 
distance, had the command of about 14,000 troops, principally 
veterans. While the eyes of the nation were directed towards 
that quarter, and every man interested for the honour, the hap- 
piness, the independence of his country, was tremblingly alive to 
the future, and filled with the most awful forebodings of a ruin- 
ous result, from the fearful odds against our little army, amaze- 
ment and terror filled every breast, to find that 5 or 6000 of our 
troops, under the general who had directed his utmost energy' to 
train them to service, and to acquire their confidence, were or- 
dered to a remote situation, on an unimportant expedition, in 
which no laurels were, or probably could be, acquired. Thus 
was a most invaluable frontier exposed to all the horrors of de- 
solation. 

The annals of warfare present no instance of greater fatuity. 
It is difficult to conjecture what could have been the object con- 
templated by this wonderful movement. But whatever it might 
have been, had the utmost success crowned the undertaking, it 
could not possibly have compensated for the issue which was to 
have been rationally calculated on at Plattsburg. 

The result, however, was highlv glorious to .the nation. No- 
thing could have been more fortunate. But this does not dimi- 
nish an iota of the censure due to the measvux. — The character 
of an action, good or bad, is not affected, except with the ca- 
naille,* by its success, whether prosperous or the reverse. Many 
of the wisest schemes ever devised have failed of success. Many 
of the most absurd and ridiculous have prospered. But every 
man whose approbation is worthy of regard, commends or re- 
probates a measure according to the wisdom or folly displayed 
in planning it. 

Had general Izard's army remained at Plattsburg, and aided 
in the discomfiture of governor Prevost, the triumph of the Uni- 
ted States at the Saranac would not have been so transcendently 
great. Its removal, therefore, how absurd soever, is a subject 

* It may be proper to state, that the true distinction of the Canaille, is not 
dress, or station. It is mind. There are men worth ten thousand a year, who 
are of the canaille. 



80 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. Lciiap. 8, 

of the most serious rejoicing-. It has added immensely to the 
laurels the nation acquired in the war. 

Loans. 

The last and perhaps the most grievous and unpardonable er- 
ror of the democratic party — an error, pregnant with baleful con- 
sequences to the finances and crLclit of the country, was, their de- 
pending on loans, for the support of the war, and deferring the 
imposition of taxes adequate to erect the superstructure of public 
credit upon. This arose from the miserable, the despicable, the 
pernicious dread of forfeiting popularity, and losing the reins of 
government — a dread often the parent of the most destructive 
measures. The consequence of this highly reprehensible error 
was, that the loans were made to very considerable loss, and that 
the public credit of the nation was most lamentably impaired. 

I H WE now gone through a review of the principal errors 
and follies, the neglects and the mismanagements of the demo- 
cratic party. I have detailed and canvassed them with the bold- 
ness of a freeman. I have followed the sound advice of Othello : 

" Nought extenuate — noi* aught set down in malice." 

On many of these points I am greatly at variance with men of 
powerful talents belonging to this party. Some of my facts and 
opinions have been controverted by a critic of considerable acu- 
men, in one of the daily papers. I have re-examined the vari- 
ous subjects embraced in this volume ; and, where I have found 
cause to change my opinion, I have unhesitatingly clone so. My 
object is truth. I have pursued it steadil)' — and, as far as I can 
judge of myself, without undue bias. But I well know how dif- 
ficult it is for human weakness to divest itself of prejudice ancl 
partiality. To the candid reader, I submit the decision. 

This detail of misconduct has been a painful task. Far more 
agreeable would it have been, to have descanted on the merits 
and talents of the president and other public functionaries. To 
a man of a liberal mind it is infinitely more agi'eeable to bestow 
the meed of praise, than to deal out censure. But a rough truth 
is preferable to a smooth falsehood. And whatever chance we 
have of arriving at the haven of peace and happiness depends 
upon a fair and candid examination of ourselves, which must in- 
falHbly result in a conviction, that, so great have been the errors, 
the follies, and the madness on both sides, mutual forgiveness 
requires no effort of generosity — it is merely an act of simple 
justice. 

Before I quit this branch of my subject, it is but proper to 
observe, that it is hardly possil)le to conceive of a more difficult 
and arduous situation than that in which Mr. Jefferson and Mr. 



dais. 9.] FEDERAL CONVENTIOxV. -81 

Madison have been placed. They have had to struggle with 
two belligerents, one supremely powerful by land, and on that 
element holding in awe the chief part of the civilized world — 
the other equally powerful by sea : — and each, in his rage against 
the other, violating the clearest and most indisputable rights of 
neutrals, and inflicting upon us, in a time of pretended peace, 
nearly as much injurv as if we were arrayed among the belliger- 
ents. And the divisions and distractions of the country, with 
the formidable opposition of a powerful party, embracing all the 
governments of the eastern states and a considerable portion of 
the citizens of the rest of the union, must have caused the admi- 
nistration infinitely more embarrassment and difiiculty than the 
two belligerents together. The federalists, as I shall show more 
fully in the sequel, after goading the government into resistance, 
and vilifying it for not procuring redress, thwarted, opposed, 
and rendered nugatory everv rational effort made to accomplish 
the very object they professed to seek — a degree of madness and 
folly never-enough-to-be-deplored. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The federalists. Federal convention and constittttion. Complaints 
of want of energ-Tj in the constitution. Disorganizers and 
jfacobins. Alien and sedition laxvs. 

Having thus taken what I hope will be allowed to be a can- 
did view of the errors and misconduct of the democratic party, 
it remains to render the same justice to their opponents. And 
I feel confident, it will appear that the latter have at least as 
much need to solicit forgiveness of their injured country, as the 
former. In the career of madness and folly which the nation 
has run, they have acted a conspicuous part, and may fairly 
dispute the palm with their competitors. 

In the federal convention, this partv made every possible exer- 
tion to increase the energy, and add to the authority, of the ge- 
neral government, and to endow it with powers at the expense 
of the state governments and the citizens at large. Bearing 
strongly in mind the disorders and convulsions of some of the 
very ill-balanced republics of Greece and Italy, their sole object 
of dread appeared to be the inroads of anarchy. And as man- 
kind too generally find it difficult to steer the middle course, 
their apprehensions of the Scylla of anarchy effectually blinded 
them to the dangers of the Charybdis of despotism. Had they 
possessed a complete ascendency in the convention, it is proba- 
ble they would have fallen into the opposite extreme to that 
which decided the tenor of the constitution. 

This party was divided. A small but very active division 
was composed of monarchists, who utterly disbelieved in the 
efficacy or security Qf the republican form of government, espe- 



S2 rOUTlCAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 9. 

cially in a tcrritorry so extensive, as that of the United States, 
and embracing so numerous a population as, at no distant pe- 
riod, was to be taken into the calculation. l"he remainder were 
genuine republicans, men of enlightened views, and a high de- 
gree of public spirit and patriotism. 'I'hey dilfered as widely 
from the monarchic part of that body, as from the democratic. 
It is unfortunate that their counsels did not prevail. For in 
government, as in almost all other human concerns, safety lies 
in middle courses. Violent and impassioned men lead them- 
selves, and it is not wonderful they lead others, astray. This 
portion of the federal party advocated an energetic, but a repub- 
lican form of government, which, on all proper occasions, might 
be able to command and call forth the force of the nation. 

The following letter sheds considerable light on the views of 
Alexander Hamilton, who took a distinguished part in, and had 
a decisive influence on, the proceedings of that respectable 
body. — It is obvious that a president during good behaviour, 
which appears by this document to have been a favourite fea- 
ture with Mr. Hamilton, could hardly be considered other than 

a president for life. 

New YonK, Sept. 16, 1803. 

Mt hear sin, I will make no apology for my delay in answering your inquiiy 
some time since made, because I could offer none which would satisfy myself. 
I pray you only to believe, that it proceeded from any thing rather than want 
of respect or regard. I shall now comply with your i-equest- 

" The highest-toned propositions which I made in the convention were for 
a president, senate, and judges, dtn-iiiq- good behaviour ,■ a house of representa- 
tives for three years. Though I would have enlarged the legislative power 
of the general government, yet I never contemplated the abolition of the state 
governments. But on the contrary, they were, in some particulars, constitu- 
ents part of my plan. 

" This plan was, in my conception, conformably with the strict theory of a 
government purely republican ; the essential criteria of which are, that the prin- 
cipal organs of the executive and legislative departments be elected by the peo- 
ple, and hold their offices by a responsible and temporary or defeasible nature, 

" .\ vote was taken on the proposition respecting the executive. Five states 
were in favour of it; among these Virginia; and though, from the manner of 
voting by delegations, individuals were not distinguished ; it was morally 
certain, from the known situation of the Virginia members (six in number, 
two of them. Mason and Ilandolph, professing popular doctrines) that Madison 
must have concurred in the vote of Virginia. Thus, if 1 sinned against repub- 
licanism, .Mr. .Madison is not less guilty. 

" I may truly then say, that I never proposed either a president or senate for 
life ; and tliat I neither recommended nor meditated the annihilation of the 
state governments. 

" And I may add, that in the course of the discussions in the convention, 
neither the propositions thrown out for debate, nor even those voted in the 
earlier stages of deliberation, were considered as evidences of a definite opi- 
nion in tlie proposer or voter. Tt appeared to be in some sort vmderstood, that, 
with a view to free investigation, experimental propositions might be made, 
which were to be received merely as suggestions for consideration. Accord- 
ingly it is a fact, that my final opinion was against an executive during good be- 
haviour, on account of tlie increased danger to the public tranquiUity incident 
to the election of a magistrate of his degree of permanency. In the plan of a 
constitution which I drew up, while the convention was sitting, and which I 



cHAF. 9.3 FEDERAL CONVENTION. 83 

communicated to Mr. Madison about the close of it. perhaps a day or two after, 
the office of president has no longer duration than for three years. 

" This plan was predicated upon these bases : 1. That the political principles 
of the people of this country would endure nothing but a republ.can govern- 
ment. 2. That in the actual situation of the countrj', it was itself right and pro- 
per that the republican theory should have a fair and full trial. 3. That, to 
such a trial it was essential that the government should be so constructed as to 
give it all the energy and stability reconcilable with the principles of that the- 
ory. These were the genuine sentiments of my heart : and upon them 1 acted, 

" I sincerely hope that it may not hereafter be discovererl, that through 
want of sufficient attention to the last idea, the experiment of rcpubhcan go- 
vernment, even in this country, has not been as complete, as satisfactory, and 
as decisive as could be wished. 

Very truly, he. 

A. HAMILTON. 

Timothy Pickerisg, Esq. 

In the conflict of opinions in the convention, a spirit of com- 
promise was imperiously necessary in order to secure success 
to its labours. The tenacity of some leading men, of adverse 
opinions, had nearly rendered the effort abortive. According 
to Luther Martin, Esq. one of the Maryland delegates, the con- 
vention was several times on the verge of adjournment, without 
fulfilling the object of its appointment. But the good fortune 
of the nation prevailed : and after a session of about four 
months, the constitution was finally agreed upon, submitted to 
public discussion, and joyfully accepted by the American people. 

The federal party immediately assumed the reins, and admi- 
nistered the government for twelve years. During this period, 
its want of sufficient energy, and its danger from the state go- 
vernments, were frequent subjects of impassioned complaint. 
Every man who opposed the measures of the administration, 
of what kind soever they were, or from whatever motives, was 
stigmatized as a disorganizer and a jacobin. The last term in- 
volved the utmost extent of human atrocity. A jacobin was, 
in fact, an enemy to social order — to the rights of property — to 
religion — to morals — and ripe for rapine and spoil. 

As far as laws can apply a remedy to the alleged feebleness 
of the general government, the reigning party sedulously endea- 
voured to remove the defect. They fenced round the constitut- 
ed authorities, as I have stated, with an alien and sedition law. 
By the former, they could banish from our shores obnoxious 
foreigners whose period of probation had not expired. By the 
latter, every libel against the government, and every unlawful at- 
tempt to oppose its measures, were subject to punishment, more 
or less severe, in proportion to their magnitude. 

The alien law, I believe, was never carried into operation. It 
was held in terrorem over several active and influential foreign- 
ers, who, in the language of the day, were rank jacobins, and 
of course enemies of Ciod and man. But the case was far dif- 
ferent with the sedition law. Several individuals could bear 



84 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 10. 

testimony, from experience, to the severity with which its sanc- 
tions were enforced. Some cases occurred, of a tragi-comical 
kind, particularly one in New- Jersey, in which a culprit was fovmd 
guilty and punished, under this law, for the simple wish that the 
wadding of a gun, discharged on a festival day, had made an in- 
road into, or singed the posteriors of Mr. Adams, then president 
of the United States. 

But every thing in this sublunary world is liable to revolution. 
This is proverbially the case with power in a republican govern- 
ment. The people of the United States changed their rulers. 
By the regular course of election, they withdrew the reins froni 
the federalists, to place them in the hands of the democrats. 

This was a most unexpected revolution to the former. It 
wholly changed their views of the government. It has been as- 
serted in England, that a tory in place, becomes a whig when 
out of place — and that a whig when provided with a place, be- 
comes a tory. And it is painful to state that too many among 
us act the same farce. The government, which, administered 
by themselves, was regarded as miserably feeble and inefficient, 
became, on its transition, arbitrary and despotic ; notwithstand- 
ing that among the earliest acts of the new incumbents, was the 
repeal not merely of the alien and sedition laws, but of the most 
obnoxious and oppressive taxes ! 

Under the effects of these new and improved political views, 
a most virulent warfare was begun against their successors. 
The gazettes patronized by, and devoted to, federalism, were 
unceasing in their efforts to degrade, disgrace, and defame the 
administration. All its errors were industriously magnified, 
and ascribed to the most perverse and wicked motives. Allega- 
tions wholly unfounded, and utterly improbable, were reiterated 
in regular succession. An almost constant and unvarying op- 
position was maintained to all its measures : and hardly ever was 
a substitute proposed for any of them. Not the slightest allow- 
ance was made for the unprecedented and convulsed state of the 
world. And never were more ardour and energy displayed in 
a struggle between two hostile nations, than the opposition mani- 
fested in their attacks upon the administration. The awful, la- 
mentable, and ruinous consequences of this warfare, and its de- 
struction of the vital interests of the nation, will fully appear in 
the sequel. 

CHAPTER X. 

British ovckrs in council, November^ 1793. Enforcement of the 

ride of 1756, 

As the difficulties and dangers of our country arose principal- 
ly from the belligerent invasions of our rights, I shall ccmimence. 
the consideration of them with the British order of 1793. 



CHAP. 10.] ORDER IN COUNCIL- 85 

At that period, during the administration of general Wash- 
ington, the following order was clandestinely issued by the Brit- 
ish privy council : — 

•' George R. Additional instruction, to all ships of war, privateers, 8cc. 
" That they shall stop and detain all ships laden with goods, the produce of 
any colony belonging to France, or carrying provisions or other supplies for 
the use of such colonies ; and shall bring the same, with their cargoes, to le- 
gal adjudication in our courts of admiralty. 

" By iiis majesty's command. 

Signed, " Henry Dundas." 

Nov. 6, 1793. 

This order, a most lawless invasion of our rights, almost un- 
precedented ki extent, was incapable of pleading in its defence the 
right of retaliation, subsequently so hacknied and worn so thread- 
bare. In a few weeks it swept the seas of our commerce. Hun- 
dreds of our vessels were captured : and many of our merchants, 
who had no more anticipation of such depredations, than of an 
attack on their vessels by the Chinese, were absolutely reduced 
to bankruptcy. The annals of Europe for the preceding century 
furnish no measure more unjustifiable. 

The circumstances attending it very highly aggravated the out- 
rage. It was issued so clandestinely, and with such an extraor- 
dinary degree of secrecy, that the first account of its existence 
reached the London exchange, with the details of the captures it 
authorized and occasioned. And the American minister at the 
court of St. James's, was unable to procure a copy of it till the 
25th of December. 

This lawless procedure excited universal indignation through- 
out the United States. There was a general clamour for war 
among all parties. Several very violent measures were moved 
and debated in congress — among the rest, the sequestration of all 
British property in the United States, for the purpose of indem- 
nifying our merchants. This was the project of Jonathan Dayton, 
of New Jersey, a leading federalist. 

While Congress was engaged in debating on various modes of 
procuring redress, the president arrested its career, by the nomi- 
nation of Judge Jay as minister extraordinary, to seek redress 
from the British government. 

This mission eventuated in the celebrated treaty which bears 
that minister's name, against which, volumes of denunciations 
were published by the democrats, with numberless gloomy and 
terrific predictions, on nearly the whole of which, as I have al- 
ready stated, time has stamped the seal of false prophecy. 

From this period till the year 1805, the collisions between the 
two nations were inconsiderable. 

The United States were in a most enviable state of prosperity 
in the years 1800, 1, 2, 3,4, 5, and 6. No nation ever enjoyed 
greater happiness. The commerce of the country, and particu- 
larly its exports, had most wonderfully increased. 

O. B. 13 



8& POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 10. 

During the first four years of general Washington's adminis- 
tration, the whole value of the exports from this country, foreign 
and domestic, was about 100,000,000 dollars; whereas during the 
years 1803, 4, 5, and 6, they were more than treble that amount. 



Exports. 


Foreign. 


Domestic. 


Total. 


1803 


13,594,00'J 


42,206,000 


55,800.000 


1804 


36,231,000 


41,468,000 


77,699.000 


1805 


53,179,000 


42,387,000 


95,566,000 


1806 


60,283,000 


41,253,000 


101,536,000 




163,287,000 


167,314,000 


330,601,000 



The foreign articles were principally productions of the cola« 
nies of the enemies of Great Britain. Their amount excited her 
jealousy in a high degree, and led her, in the summer of 1805, to 
adopt the rule of the war of 1756, which rendered illegal any 
commerce carried on during war, by a neutral, with the colonies 
of a beUigerent, which had not been permitted during peace. 
This rule was furtively carried into operation, without any pre- 
vious notice, whereby our vessels and property to an immense 
amount were seized — carried into British ports — tried and con- 
demned. 

A circumstance attended this measure, which greatly aggra- 
vated its atrocious injustice. It was in direct hostility with pre- 
vious decisions of the British courts of admiralty, which had le- 
galized, in the clearest and most explicit manner, the trade now- 
proscribed and subjected to condemnation. 

In order to display the gross impropriety of this procedure of 
the British government, and its utter inconsistency with their 
preceding conduct and decisions, I annex a statement of the re- 
port of the king's advocate, on an application made to him in 
March, 1801, at the instance ofRufusKing, Esq. our minister 
at the court of St. James's, on certain cases wherein the rule of 
1756 was attempted to be enforced. 

" It is now distinctly understood, and has been repeatedly so decided by the 
*' hicrh court of appeals, that THE PROnUGE OF THE COLONIES OF 
" xilE EXEMY MAY BK IMPOIITED BY A NKUTR.\L INTO HIS OWN 
"COI'NTRY, AND MAY BE EXPORTED FROM THENCE, EVEN TO 
"THE MOTHER COUNTRY OF SUCH COLONY; AND IN LIKE MAN- 
" NER THE PRODUCE AND MANUFACTURES OF 1HE MOTHER 
"COUNTRY MAY, IN THIS CIRCUITOUS MODE, LEGALLY FIND 
"THEIR WAY TO THE COLONIES. The direct trade, however, be- 
*' tween the mother country and its colonies, has not, I appi-ehend, been recog- 
"nised as legal, either by his majcaly's government, or by his tribunals. 

" What is a direct trade, or what amounts to an intermediate importation 
*' into the neutral country, may sometimes be a qtiostion of some difficulty. A 
*' general definition of either, applicable to all cases, cannot well be laid down. 
*' The question must depend upon the particular circumstances of each case. 
" Perhaps the mere touching in the neutral country, to take fresh clearances, 
" may properly be considered as a fraudulent evasion, and is in effect the di- 
^' rect trade ; bnt the high court of admiralty has expressly decided (and I see 



CHAP. 10.] MERCANTILE ALARMS, SJ* 

"no reason to expect that the court of appeals will vary the rule) that landing 
", the goods and paying the duties in the neutral country breaks the continuity of the 
*^ voyage; and is such an importation as legalises the trade, although the goods he 
" re-shipped in tlie same vessel, and on account of the same neutral proprietors, and 
" 6e forwarded for sale to the tnotker country or the colony," 

*' An extract from this report, containing the foregoing pas- 
" sage, was transmitted by the duke of Portland, in a letter of the 
" thirtieth of March, 1801, to the lords commissioners of the ad- 
'* miralty. The duke's letter concludes thus : " in order, there- 
" fore, to put a stop to the inconveniences arising from these erro- 
*' neous sentences of the vice admiralty courts, I have the honour 
*' to signify to your lordships the king's pleasure, that a communi- 
" cation of the doctrine laid down in the said report should be im- 
*' mediately made by your lordships to the several judges presi- 
" ding in them, setting forth what is held to be the law upon the 
" subject by the superior tribunals, for their future guidance and 
" direction.''* 

The depredations above stated, excited universal indignation 
throughout the United States. The mercantile part of the com- 
munity were exasperated to the utmost degree. The adminis- 
tration was stigmatized as equally regardless of the honour and 
interest of the nation, for not resisting these pretensions and pro- 
curing redress for the depredations. A recurrence to the ga- 
zettes of that period will fully prove that the federal party was 
then clamorous for war, if redress could not be procured for 
grievances incomparably less than those that finally provoked 
the late declaration of war. But it may be said, with some de- 
gree of truth, that newspapers are an equivocal criterion of the 
public opinion. This I well know, and freely admit : and there- 
fore I shall lay before the reader other and most unerring proofs 
of the mercantile temper of this period. 

Meetings of the merchants were held in almost all the com- 
mercial towns and cities in the United States. The subject was 
eloquently discussed. Strong memorials were agreed upon, 
urging the president and congress to adopt such measures as 
might be necessary to procure redress. In these memorials, 
which were couched in the most emphatical language, the pre- 
tensions of England were considered as akin to actual piracyf 
— as opening the door to the most flagrant frauds and imposi- 
tions — as unworthy of a great and magnanimous people — and as 
derogatory to our reputation and honour as an independent na- 
tion. The administration was in the most impassioned style in- 
voked to resist such pretensions ; and the memorialists generally 
pledged themselves most solemnly to support it in the attempt. As 

• Letter from Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney to lord Howick, dated August 
20, 1R06. 

t " It cannot become the intep^rity of a great nation, to prey upon the unpro' 
i^cted property of a friendly power." Boston Memorial. 



8S POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 11. 

I shall devote a separate chapter [the 18th] to the consideration 
of the policy of the mercantile portion of the nation, I shall not 
here inquire how far these pledges were redeemed. 

These memorials are immensely important in the formation 
of a correct estimate of the policy of our government. I shall, 
therefore, make very copious extracts from them. They are 
most precious documents, and present " a round, unvarnished 
tale" of the outrages experienced by American commerce, and 
the extravagant pretensions, as well as the lawless depredations 
of Great Britain. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Extracts from the Boston Memorial to Congress, 

The Boston merchants, after glancing at the vexations, insults, 
and barbarities, suffered from France and Spain, pass on to the 
consideration of the grievances inflicted by the British. They 
state that, 

" It is their obiect in the present memorial, to confine Uieir animadversions 
to THE MORE ALARMING, BECAUSE MORE NUMEROUS AND EX- 
TENSIVE DETENTIONS AND CONDEMNATIONS OF AMERICAN 
VESSELS BY GREAT BRITAIN, aud to adveit to the principles recently 
ai'owed, and adopted by her courts relative to neutral trade in articles of colo- 
nial produce ; — principles, which, if admitted, or practised upon in all the lati- 
tude, which may fairlv be inferred to be intended, would be destructive of the 
navigation, and V.AmCKl.'LX IMPAIR THE MOST LUCRATIVE COM- 
MERCE OF OUR COUNTRY : principles that had been virtually abandoned 
subsequently to their avowal, even during an intermediate and inveterate war, and 
during tl>e prosecution of a trade luhich is noiv interdicted and alleged to be illegal, 
hut which trade was at that time sanctioned by the promulgated decisions of 
her courts, and by an official communication from one of the highest organs of 
the very government, which is now attempting to destroy it, and with its sup- 
pression to ANNIHILATE, OR GREATLY DIMINISH THE COM- 
MERCE OF NEUTRAL NATIONS. 

"There is great cause to apprehend, that the British government means to 
set up as a principle, that slie has a right to interdict all commerce by neutrals, 
to the ports of her enemies, which ports had not been opened previously to tlie 
commencement of hostilities ; — that if she permits a trade with them in any 
degree, she has a right to prescribe the limits of it ; to investigate the inten- 
tion of the parties prosecuting it; and if such intention be not the actual dis- 
position of the property in the neutral country, to consider the merchandize, 
even after the importation into such country, after having been landed therein, 
warehoused, and the duties paid on it, as only in the stage of a continued and 
direct voyage from the colony to the mother country, or vice versa ; and therefore 
illegal, and liable to condemnation. 

"Unless the present disposition of the British admiralty courts, and navy 
officers, can be counteracted and removed, a widcly-dispersed and unprotected 
commerce, extending to every region of the globe, will only serve TO IN- 
VITE DEPREDATION, TO BANKRUPT OURSELVES, AND ENRICH 
OTHERS, UNTIL SUCH COMMERCE BE SWEPT FROM THE FACE 
OF THE OCEAN, and leave nothing in its stead, but sentiments of hostility 
and acts of contention. 

" A tacit submission to pretensions thus lofty and comprehensive, but which 
*our memorialists trust are most of them untenable, would, they conceive, be 
AN ABANDONMENT OF RIGHTS OPENLY RECOGNIZED AND A 



8HAP. 12.] NEW YORK MEMORIAL. 89 

DEREUCTiON OF THE MOST IMPOltTANT COMMERCIAL INTERESTS 
OF OUR COUNTRY. 

" Reason, and the most powerful considerations of equitv, enjoin it as a 
DUTY ON THE UNITED STATES TO OPPOSE THESE PRETENSIOXS ; 
for circumstanced as these states are, possessing an immensely extended and 
fertile territory, proclucinii- mostly the necessaries of life, which, with the mer- 
chandise obtained from abroad by the industry and enterprise of her citizens, 
she is obliged to barter, or furnish in payment for impoitaiions of foreign pro- 
duce or manufactures; it behoves her strenuously to contend for the right of an 
open commerce in Innocent articles between oilier nations that are willing to ac- 
cord it, and herself; for if the right be not both claimed and admitted, scarce- 
ly any of the European powers can in future be engaged in warfare without 
making the United States, in opposition both to her ettbrts and wishes, 
EITHER A VICTIM, OR PARI Y IN THE CONTEST. 

" As to the inquisitorial right of search into the ownership of neutral prop- 
erty set up by Great Brltam, and the doctrine appended to it, that a neutral im- 
porter shall not again export his goods, but that they shall be first alienated 
and passed into the nossession of others — your mfmorialists believe them to be 
UNSOUND IN POINT OF PUINCIPLE.'OFFENSiVE IN PRACTICE. ;AND 
NUGATORY IN EFFECT. 

" At any rate, whether the doctrine were soiuul or not, or whether It inju- 
red Great Britain or not, it cannot become the integrity and magnanimity of a 
great and powerful nation, at once, and without notice, to reverse her rule of 
conduct towards other states, and TO PREY UPON THE UNPROTECT- 
ED PROPERTY OF A FRIENDLYI^VYER, the extension of whose com- 
merce had been invited by the formal avowal of her intentions, and prosecuted, 
under a reliance on her good faith, and from the confidence reposed, that her 
courts, uniform to their principles, would never be infiuenccd by the time- 
serving politics of the moment 

"In all events, fully relying that the subject of our differences with Great 
Britain will rtceive the due comideration rf govermnent ; and that such measures 
will in consequence be promptty adopted, as will tend to DISSEMBARRASS 
OUR COMMERCE, ASSERT OUR RIGHTS. AND SUPPORT THE DIGNI- 
TY OF THE UNITED STATES, 

"Your memorialists have the honour to remain, in behalf of their constitu- 
ents and themselves, most respectfully, 

James Lloyd, jr. David Green, John Cofiin Jones, 

Arnold Welles, George Cabot, Thomas H. Perkins, 

David Sears, 
Boston, January 20, 1805. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Extracts from the Ntxv Tork memorml. 

"They have been suddenly confounded by unexpected intelligence of the 
arrestation, on the high seas, (f a Iwge portio7i 'f their property,^ ivhich had been 
embarked nx-ith the most unsuspecting cc>'Jidtnce. The feelings of your memorial- 
ists are not only excited by the losses whicii they have actually sustained, in 
consequence of a measure insusceptible of previous calculation, but, also, from 
the state of uncertainty in which they are placed with respect to future com- 
mercial operations. 

" In the recent decision, which prohibits an importer of colonial produce 
from exporting it to Europe, they perceive with concern, either a nugatory 
and vexatious regulation, or a meditated blow at what they deem an incontes- 
tible and v,,! liable right. 

" If the arrival ol'a ship in the country to which it belongs ; the landing of 
the cargo ; the inspection of the custom house ; the payment or security of du- 
ties ; do not terminate a voyage, then we confess our ignorance on a point, 
which, never having been before questioned, has been assumed by us as an 
acknowledged truth. If the entry forexponation; the embarkation of merchan- 
Ojse : th." re-inspectiou of the custom house ; the bond for securing a delivery 



90 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 12. 

in a foreign country ; and a public clearance, do not indicate tlie commence- 
ment of a new voyage ; then we are yet to learn the meaning of tlie expres- 
sion. 

" But these embarrassments, though perplexing and vexatious, are not those 
which principally occasion our solicitude ; we are compelled to consider the 
late decisions of the British tribunals as preliminary steps towards a system of 
controlling the importations and exportationsof colonial productions, and there- 
by ANNIHILATING THE MOST LUCRATIVE BRANCHES OF OUR 
COMMERCE. If we owed this trade solely to the favour of Great Britain, still 
we might ask, what urgent motive, what imperious necessity, required that 
the favour shf)uld be resumed at a period ichen our commerce tuas spread over the 
ocean, and wlien a cliange so essential might destroy its security, and subject 
us to incalculable losses. We deny, however, that the rights of commerce, 
as claimed by us, are to be deemed favours ; on the contrary, if the law of na- 
tions is other than a temporary rule, prescribed by an arbitrary wdl, and en- 
forced by power, then we appeal to its most universal and inviolable principle 
in our defence. This principle is, that the goods of a neutral, consisting of 
articles, not contraband of war» in a neutral vessel, employed in a direct trade 
between neutral countries and ports of a belligerent country, not invested or 
blockaded, are protected. 

" Wliatever theoretical opinions may heretofore have been advanced, there 
has existed no such practical rule [as that of 1756] which, under the unpa- 
rallelled circumstances of the present war, MUST INFALLIBLY DES- 
TROY THE COMMERCE OF THIS COUNTRY. 

•• With these preliminary facts in view, we request permission to detail 
some of the most important consequences of the assumed rule, that neutrals 
may be restrained in time of war to their accustomed tr.ade in time of peace. 
Tlie injustice of such a rule, in relation to the United States, will be most 
manifest; the individuals employed in commerce would not alone be affect- 
ed : all the internal relations of our country would be disturbed ; the inte- 
rests of those districts which are most remote from our principal ports, would., 
in proportion to their dependence on foreign supplies, be most severely de- 
pressed. 

*' If Great Britain permits commerce betzveen her subjects and the colonies of 
her eneiriies, may we not, with the consent of those colonies, participate In the 
same commerce ? If our commerce with the enemies of Great Britain may 
now be confined to the system established in time of peace, may we not ap- 
prehend that the principle will be retaliated in respect to our commerce with 
the colonies of Great Britain ? In that case, WHAT CAN ENSUE BUT 
WAR, PILLAGE, AND DEVASTATION? 

*' Tiiese are not imaginary suppositions. They illustrate the most important 
principles of our commerce. They evince the necessity of a circuitous trade, 
to enable us to realize the greatvalue of exports of our own native productions, 
by which, alone, we acquire the power to liquidate the balance against us, in 
our commerce with Great Britain : they demonstrate, that the position against 
which we contend, is not a rule of the law of nations. THE LAW OF 
NATIONS ORDAINS NO RULE, WHICH IS UNEQUAL AND UN- 
JUST. 

" It is, however, with much sin-prise, tliat we have recently discovered, that 
the very circumbtances ui)on which our hopes of security were reposed, have 
been urged as arguments to jiistlfv an invasion of our rights ; and that HAV- 
ING TOTALLY SUPPRESSED THE EXTERNAL COMMERCE OF 
HER ENEMIBS, GKEAT BRITAIN IS NOW COUNSELLED TO AP- 
PROPRIATE TO HERSELF THAT OF HER FRIENDS. 

We wish only for justice : and believing that a commercial nation which 
disreg.irds justice, thereby undermines the cit.-idel of her power: we rely on 
the effect of mutual interests and wishes in promoting a coi-dial explanation 
and fair adjustment of every cause of misunderstanding ; in particular we re- 
ly on the government of our country, THAT OUR RIGHTS WILL- NOT 
BE ABANDONED, and tJiat NO ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF AN 
USURPATION WILL EVER BE DERIVED FROM OUR ACQUIES. 
CENCE. 



CHAP. 13.] PHILADELPHIA MEMORIAL. 9l 

*' Your mernorialists conclude with remarking, that they deem the present si- 
tuation of public affairs to be peculiarly critical and perilous ; and such as requires 
all the prudence, the ■wisdom, and the energy of the government, SUPPORTED BY 
THE CO-OPERATION OF ALL GOOD CITIZENS. By mutual exertions, 
under the benign influence of providence upon this hitherto favoured nation, 
we hope the clouds which threaten to obscure its prosperity may be dispelled. 
AND WE FLEDGE OUR UNITED SUPPORT IN FAVOUR OF ALL THE 
MEASURES ADOPTED TO VINDICATE AND SECURE THE JUST 
RIGHTS OF OUR COUNTRY." 
Nei\} York, Dec. 28, 1805. 

Signed on behalf of the merchants, by 
Joim Broome, chairman, 
Isaac Lawrence, Eben. Stevens, ElishaCoit, Edmond Seaman, 

Henry J. WyckoflT, Wm. W. Woolsey, Sml. A. Lawrence, Thomas Farmer, 
GoeletHoyt, Chis- M'Evers, jr. George Griswold, Charles Wright, 

James Arden, William Codman, W. Henderson, Wm. Clarkson, 

James Maxwell, Oliver Wolcott, William Bayard, Jolm B. Murray, 
W. Edgar, Thos. Carpenter, Rensselaer Havens,Rob«rt Lenox, 

John De Peysler, G. M. Woolsey, James Scott, Henry Post, 

Jolm B. Coles, Daniel Ludlow, John Kane, Archibald Gracie, 

Leiferi Lefterts, William Lovet, John Franklin, Gulian Ludlow, 
John Murray, Benjamin Bailey, John Taylor, P. Shermerhorn, 

J. R. Livingston, W. Van Zandt, D. M. Clarkson, John P. Mumfordi 
Benj. G. Minlurn, I. Clason, Samuel Russel, John Clendining, 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Extracts from the memorial of the Merchants of Philadelphuu 
I PROCEED to state the sentiments of the merchants of the 
great city of Philadelphia, on this invasion of their rights and 
those of the nation. We shall see that they felt the same sense 
of injustice of these measures, with their brethren of Boston and 
New York ; made the same strong requisition for protection ; 
and gave an equal pledge of full support. 

" A jealousy of our enterprise and prosperity, has excited a design of checUng the 
commercial growth of our country, the fruit of which has been an attempt to in. 
novate upon ancient and approved principles, and introduce unheard-of arti- 
<;les and provisions into the code of public law. 

«' It becomes your memorialists to state, that the pressure of these evils has 
."■reatly increased, and that others, of even superior magnitude, have arisen, 
which assume a most alarming and distressing form. What were considered 
irregularities, insusceptible of prevention, have, by continuance and success, 
strengthened into REGULAR AND SYSTEMATIC PLUNDER. What 
were regarded as mischiefs incident to a state of war, temporary though not 
remediless, are vindicated upon the ground of rigiit ; and their practice is re- 
iterated under the authority of government, and receives the solemn sanction 
of law. 

" They moreover foresee, in the prevalence of the principles, and the con. 
tinuance ol" the practices alluded to, nothing but THE RUIN OF INDIVI- 
DUALS, THE DESTRUCTION OF THEIR COMMERCE, AND THE DE- 
GRADATION OF THEIR COUNTRY. 

" Could the judgment or even the charity of your memorialists see, m the 
new doctrines of the British court, nothing but the revival and enforcement 
of an ancient and established principle, which friendship had relaxed, or fa- 
vour permitted to slumber, they might regret the departed good, but could 
impute no injustice to the hand tiiat withdrew it. Tliey are struck, however, 
with.the novelty of these doctrines ; their unequivocal hostility to neutral interests 
and rights ; their inconsistency with former declarations of their ministrj, and deci- 
sions oi' tUmv courts, and with the extraordinary time aiul manner of their an- 
nunciation. 



92 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cha?. 1.3. 

" Tlie effect of : his novel principle upon neutral interests is of the most se- 
rious and aU min.. character. IT GOES TO NOTHING SHORT OF THE 
DESTRUCTION OF NP:UTR AL COMMERCE ; and from the well-known 
neutral situation and ciiaracter of the United States, to notldng short of iriflict- 
ing a most deep aivl deadly ivound upon their trade 

" But your memorialists cannot but consider, that this principle has. not the 
weight of a consistent and uniform support by the government which professes 
to upliold it. In 1801, the declaration of its ministry and the decisions of its 
courts, were unequivocally, "that the produce of tlie colonies of the enemy 
may be imported by a neutral into liis own coimtry, and be re-exported from 
thence, even to the mother country of such colony ;" and also, " that landing 
the goods, and paying the duties in tlie neutral country, breaks the continuity 
of the voyage, and is such an importation as legalises the trade, although the 
goods be re-shipped in llie same vessel, and on account of the same neutral 
proprietors, and forwarded for sale to t!»e mother country." In 1805, it is de- 
cided, that landing and paying the duties does not break the continuity of 
the voyage ; and the course of trade pointed out to tlie neutral, four years be- 
fore, as legal and safe, is now unsatisfactory to tlie belligerent, and ATTEND- 
ED INFALLIBLY WITH CONFISCATION. What clear and immutable 
principle of the law of nations, can that be, your memorialists would ask, 
which is supported bvthe high court of admiralty, and avowed by the ministry 
in 1801. and which is prostr;ued by the ministry and the iiigh court of appeals 
in 1805 ? Such a principle viust be considered as rather partaking of the shifting 
character of convenience, than of that of permanent right und established Unu.^ 

" Tlie time and manner of announcmg it accord with the principle itself. 
At a moment when mercantile enterprise, coniiding in the explanations on 
this point given by the Briii.sh ministry to our ambassador, is strained to the 
utmost, a new decision of the court of appeals is announced, and EVERY 
SAIL IS STRETCriEU i O COLLECT THE UNWARY AMERICANS, AVHO 
ARE UNSUSPECTINGLY CONFIDING IN WHAT WAS THE LAW Ol' 
NATIONS. 

•' In the principles they have here submitted to your consideration, they 
feel all the confidence of justice, and all the tenacity of truth. TO SURREN- 
DER THEM, THEY CONCEIVE, WOULD DKnOG\TE FRO.M THE 
JIATIONAL CHARACTER AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED 
STATES. FROM THE JUSTICE OF GOVERNMENT THEY HOPE FOR 
THEIR AVOWAL; FROM THE SPIRIT OF GOVEllNMENT THEY 
HOPE FOR rilEIli DEFENCE ; AND FROM THE BLESSING OF HEA- 
VEN THEY HOPE FOlt THEIR ESTABLISHMENT- 

" As c'lizens, they claim protection ; and they conceive that the claim is en- 
forced by the consideration, that from their industry and enterprise is collect- 
ed a revenue which no nation has been able to equal, without a correspondent 
expense for the protection of the means. 

" To preserve peace with all nations, is admitted, without reserve, to be both 
the interest and the policy of the United States. They therefore presume to 
suggest, that every measure, not inconsistent with the honour of the nation, by 
which the great objects of redress and security may be attained, should first 
be used. IF SUCH MEASURES PROVE INEFFECTUAL, WHATEVER 
MAY BE THE SACRIFICE ON THEIR PART, IT WILL BE MET WITH 
SUBMISSION." 

Thos- Fitzsimons, chairman, 
John Craig, .lac. Gerard Koch, Wm. Montgomery, George Latimer, 

W. Sims, Thos. W. Francis, \braliamlvinuing. Chandler Price, 

Robert Ralston, Tiiomas English, Philip Nicklin, L. Clapier, 
James Yard, Joseph S. Lewis, Thomas AUlbone, Daniel W. Coxe, 

Robert Wain, Manuel Eyre, 

R. E- Hobart, Secretary. 

The preceding list embraces decided men of both the hostile 
partite, and of various nations — Americans, English, Irish, 
French, and Dutch. 



•CSAP. 14] BALTIMORE MEMORIAL. ^3 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Extracts froyn the Baltimore Memorial. 

The memorial of the merchants of Baltimore is more diffuse 
and argumentative than any of the preceding. It is a most mas- 
terly composition, and may be regarded as a complete and un- 
answerable defence of neutral rights against belligerent preten- 
sions and encroachments. Its maxims ought to be committed to 
memory by every statesman, in all those countries, whose inter- 
est it is to preserve a neutral situation. 

" It would not be desired that the state of thing-.s which Great Britain had 
herself prescribed, and which use and habit had rendered familiar and intelligi- 
ble to all, should be disturbed by oppressive innovations ; far less that these in- 
novations sliould, by atiirannical retrospection, be made X.o iusi\iy the seizure and 
<-onfiscation of their property, committed to the high seas, under the protection of 
the existing rule, and without -uariiing of the intended change. In tliis their just 
hope, your memorialists have been fatally disappointed. THEIR VESSELS 
AND EFFECTS TO A LARGE AMOUNT, HAVE LATELY BEEN CAPTU- 
RED BY THE COMMISSIONED CRUISElfS OF GREAT BRITAIN, upon 
the foundation of NEW PRINCIPLES SUDDENLY INVENTED, and applied 
to this habitual traffic ; and suggested and promulgated, for the hrst time, by 
sentences of condemnation ; bv whicli. iincvoida/jle iiynorance has been considered 
as criminal, and AN HONOUltABLE CONFIDENCE IN THE .TUSTICE OF A 
FRIENDLY NATION, PURSUED WITH PEIVALTY AND FORFEITURE. 

" Your memorialists are in no situation to state the precise nature of the 
rules to which their most important interests have been sacrificed : and it is 
not the least of their complaiHts against them, that they are undefined and unde- 
finable; equivocal in their form, and t/ieft instruments of oppression, by reason of 
their ambiguity. 

" Wlien we see a powerful state, in possession of a commei-ce, of which the 
world aftbrds no ex?^n\y\iis, endeavoring to interpolate into tlie laws of nations ca- 
suistical niceties andwaytuard distinctions, which forbid a citizen of another inde- 
pendent commercial country to export from that country what imquestionably belongs 
to him, only because he imported it himself, and yet allow liim to sell a right of 
exporting it to another ; which prohibit an end, because it arises out of one 
intention, but permit it when it arises out of two ; wliich, dividing an act into 
stages, searcli into the mind for a correspondent division of it in the contem- 
plation of its autlior, and detemiine its innocence or criminahty accordingly ; 
which, not denying that the property acquired in an authorised traffic by neu- 
tral nations from belligerents, may become incorporated into the national stock, 
and, under the slielter of its neutral character, tlius superinduced, and still 
preserved, be afterwards transported to every cjuarter of the globe, reject the 
only epoch, wliicli can distinctly mark the incorporation, and point out none 
other in its place ; which, proposing to fix with accuracy and precision, the Une 
of demarcation, beyond which neutrals are trespassers upon the wide domain 
of belligei'ent riglits, involve every thing in darkness and confusion; there can 
be but one opinion as to the purpose which all tliis is to accomplish. 

"Your memorialists object, in the strongest terras, against this new criterion 
of legality, because of its inevitable tendency to injustice; because of its pecu- 
liar capacity to embarrass with seizure, and ruin with confiscation, the whole of our 
trade with F.urope in the surplus of our colonial importations. 

" For the loss and damage which capture brings along with it, British courts of 
prize grant no adequate indemnity. Redress to anv extent is difficult ; to a com- 
petent extent impossible. And even the costs which an iniquitous seizure com- 
pels a neutral merchant to incur, in the defence of his violated rights, before 
their own tribunals, are seldom decreed, and never paid. 

" The reasons upon which Great Britain assumes to herself a right to intei'- 
dict the independent nations of the earth, a commercial intercourse with the 
colonies of her enemies (out of the relaxation of which pfetended right has 

O. B. 14 



94 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 14. 

arisen the distinction in her courts, between the American trade from the co- 
lonies to the United States, and from tlie same colonies to Europe) will, we 
are confidently persuaded, BE REPELLED WITH FIRMNESS AND EF- 
FECT B\ OUR GOVERNMENT. 

" Shf forbids us from transporting in our vessels, as in peace we could, the pro- 
perty of her enemies ; enforces against us a ligorous list of contraband : dams up the 
great channels of our ordinary trade ,- abridges, trammels, and obstructs what she 
permits us to prosecute ,- and t/ien refers us to our accustomed traffic in time of peace 
for the criterion of our commercial' rights, IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY THE CON- 
SUMMATION OF THAT RUIN, WITH WHICH OUR LAWFUL COM- 
MERCE IS MENACED BY HER MAXLMS AND HER CONDUCT. 

" Tiie petnicious qualities of this doctrine are enhanced and aggravated, as 
from its nature might be expected, by the fact that GREAT BRITAIN 
GIVES NO NOTICE OF THE TIME WHEN, OR THE CIRCUMSTANCES 
IN WHICH, SHE MEANS TO APPLY, AND ENFORCE IT. Her orders of 
the sixth of November, 1793, by which the seas were swept of our vessels and 
efiects, -vere for the first time, announced by tJie ships ofiuar, and pnvateers, by 
ivliich they luere carried into execution. 

" The late decisions of her coiu'ts, which are in the true spirit of this doc- 
trine, and are calculated to restore it in practice, to that high tone of severity, 
whicli milder decisions had almost concealed from the world, came upon us 
by surprise. And the captures, of which the Dutch complained, in the seven 
years war, were preceded by no warning. THUS IS THIS PRINCIPLE 
MOST ItAPACIOUS AND OPPRESSH'E IN ALL ITS BEARINGS. Harsh 
and mysterious in itself, it has always been, and ever must be, used to betray 
neutral merchants into a ti'ade, supposed to be lawful, and then to give them 
up to pillage and niin. 

" But there can be no security ivhile a malignant and deceitful principle like 
this hangs over us. It is just what the belligerent chooses to make it, lurking, 
unseen, and uufelt, or visible, active, and noxious. It may come abroad when 
least expected : and the moment of confidence may be the moment of de- 
struction. 

It may sleep for a time ; bitt no man knows -when it is to atuake, to shed its banefid 
influence upon the commerce of the world. It clothes itself, from season to season, 
in what ma}' be called relaxations, but again, witliout any previous intimation to 
the deluded citizens of the neutrid powers, these relaxations are suddenly 
laid aside, either in the whole, or in part, and the work of confiscation commences. 
Nearly ten months of the late war had elapsed before it announced itself at all : 
and when it did so, it was in its most formidable shape, and in its fullest power 
and expansion. 

" Your memoriahsts feel themselves bound to state, that, according to au- 
tlientic information lately received, the government of Great Britain does, at 
this moment, ^ra;;* licences to neutral vessels taking in a proportion oftlieir cargoes 
there, to proceed on trading voyages to the colonies of Spain, from which she woidd 
exclude us ; upon the condition, that the return cargoes shall be earned to Great Bri- 
tain, to S7oell the gains of her merchants, a?id to give her a monopoly of the commerce 
of the world. This great belligerent right, then, upon which so much has been 
supposed to depend, sinks into an article of barter. It is used, not as a hostile in- 
strument wielded by a warlike state, by which her enemies are to be wounded, 
or their colonies subdued, but as the selfish means of commercial aggrandize- 
ment, for the ivipoverishment and nan of her friends i as an engine by which Great 
Britain is to be lifted vip to a vast height of prosperity, and the trade of neutrals 
crippled, and crushed, and de.itrayed. Such acts are a most intelligible commen- 
tary upon the jirinciple in question. They show that it is a hollow and fallaci- 
ous principle, susceptible of the worst abuse, and incapable of a just and honour- 
able application. They slicw that in the hands of a great maritime state, it is 
not, in its ostensible character of a weapon of hostility, that it is prized ; but ra- 
ther as one of the means of establishing an unbounded monopoly, by which every 
entei-prise calculated to promote national wealth and power, shall be made to 
begin and end in Great Britain alone. Such acts may well be considered as pro- 
nouncing the condemnation of the principle against which we contend, as with- 
drawing from it the only pretext, upon wluchit was possible to rest it. Great 



CHAP. 15] NEWBURYPORT MEMORIAL. 97 

Britain does not pretend that this principle has any wan-ant in the opinion of 
writers on public law. She does not pretend, and cannot pretend, that it derives 
any countenance from the conduct of otlier nations. She is confessedhf solitary 
in the use of this invention, bij ivhich RAPACITY IS SYSTEM ATISED, and A 
STATE OF NEUTRALITY AND WAR ARE MADE SUBS'l ANTIAlLY 
THE SAME. In this absence of all otlier authority, her courts have made an 
appeal to her own early example, for the justification of her own recent practice. 
Your memoraiists join in that appeal, as afiorduig' the most conclusive and au- 
thoritative reprobation of the practice, wliich it is intended to support by it. 

"The solemn renunciation of the principle in question, in the face of the 
whole world, by her highest tribunal in matters of prize, reiterated in a succes- 
.sion of decrees, down to the year 1786, and afterwards, is powerfully confiiTned 
by the acquiescence of Great Britain, durmg tiie iirst, most important, and ac- 
tive period of the late war, in tlie free and unlimited prosecution, by neutrals, 
of the whole colony trade of France. She did, indeed, at last, prohibit tliat trade, 
by an instruction, UNPRECEDENTED IN THE ANNALS OF MARITIME 
DEPREDATIONS ; but the revival of her discarded rule was characterized with 
such circumstances of iniouity and violence, as rather to heighten, by the efl'ect 
of contrast, the veneration of mankind for the past justice of her tribunals. 
The world has not forgotten the instruction to which we allude, or the enormi- 
ties by which its true character was developed. Produced in mystery, at a 
moment when universal confidence in the integrity of her government had 
brought upon the ocean, a prey of vast vahie and importance ; sent abroad to 
the different naval stations with such studied secrecy that it would almost seem 
to have been intended to make an experiment, HOW FAR LAW AND HO- 
NOUR COULD BE OUTRAGED BY A NATION PROVERBIAL FOR RE- 
SPECTING BOTH : the heralds by whom it was first announced were the 
commanders of her commissioned cruisers, who at the same instant carried it 
into effect, with every circumstance of aggravation, if, of such an act, there can 
be any aggravation. Upon such conduct there was but one sentiment It was 
condemned by reason and justice. It was condemned by that law which flows 
from, and is founded upon "them. IT WAS CONDEMNED AND WILL FOR- 
EVER CONTINUE TO BE CONDEMNED BY THE UNIVERSAL VOICE 
OF TIIE CIVILIZED W^ORLD." 

Thomas Tenant, Henry i'ayson, Benjamin WiUiams, John Donnel, 

William Wilson, William Lorman, Luke Tiernan, T. Swan, 

William Taylor, T. Hollingsworth, Joseph Sterret, Robert Gilmor, 

George Stiles, Steuart Brown, James Calhoun, J.A.Buchanan, 

John Collins, Samuel Sterret, Alexander M'Kim, David Stewart, 

Hugh Thompson, William Patterson, Mark Pringle, Samuel Taylor, 

John Sherlock, John Strieker, 

Baltimore, January 21, 1806. 

This list, like that signed to the Philadelphia memorial, em- 
braces federalists and democrats indiscriminately — as well as 
citizens of various nations. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Extracts from the 3Iemorials of Newhaven and Ncxvbiiry port. 

Extracts from the memorial of the chamber of commerce of JVe'ivhaven. 
"Your memoraiists cannot behold without surprise and regret, a powerful 
and respectable nation, bending the principles of the common law of nations, to 
answer political purposes, and introducing a versatile policy into the solemn 
adjudications of her courts. WE HOLD IT TO BE EXTREMELY IMPOR- 
TANT THAT ALL NATIONS SHOULD COMBINE AGAINST SUCH INNO- 
VATIONS UPON THEIR RIGHTS; and, in particular, that the United States, 
whose geographical position gives them the best chance of maintaining neutral- 
ity, during wars in Europe, SHOULD FIRMLY RESIST EVERY ENCROACH- 
MENT UPON THE RICH rS OF NEUTRAL COMMERCK. 



(/6 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [iuAP. 16 

"With these impressions of the necessity o^ measures for defending our com- 
mercial rights, which slnill be firm, but temperate, and bold, yet marked with 
a spirit of conciliation, your memorialists cordiallyunite with tlieir fellow-citi- 
zens of other commercial towns, in expressing tlieir sentiments freely to the le- 
g.slative and executive authorities of their country ; with assurances of their 
disposition TO GIVE AID AND SUPPORT TO EVERY MEASUREf)F GOV- 
EiiNMENT CALCULATED TO ACCOMPLISH THIS BIPORTANT OB- 
JECT." 

Signed by order, 

HENRY DAG GET, 
J^fevihaven, February 7, 1806. President of the Chamber of Commerce. 



Extracts from the memorial of the merchants of Keivburyport. 

** In many cases our vessels and cargoes have been captured, tried and con- 
demned in courts of law, under unusual and alarming pretences, ivhich,if peivnit- 
ted to continue, THREATEN THE RUIN OF OUR COMMERCIAL INTER- 
ESTS. 

"So far from obtaining' redress of our grievances by the ordinary modes an4 
processes of law, we have in most cases been subject to heavy costs, and suffer- 
ed embarrassing and distressing detention of propertj^ even where no pretence 
could be found to authorise the seizure of it. 

"Having sustained these losses and injuries in the prosecution of our lawful 
commerce, and in the exercise of our just rights, we rely with confidence on the 
wisdom, firmness, and justice of our government, to obtain for us that compen- 
sation, and to grcmt to us that protection, ivhich A REGARD TO THE HONOUR 
OF OUR COUNTRY, no less than the rights of our citizens must dictate and re- 
quire. 

Eben. Stockcr, Stephen Howard, Edward Tappan,") 

John Pearson, Wilham Bartlet, Moses Howard, C Committee. 

JK'etvburijport, December, 1805. "William Faris, _) 

The same outrages having been experienced by the citizens of 
Newhaven and Newburypoit as by those of other parts of the 
union, we of course find the same style of complaint — the same 
call for redress — the same pledge of support — in one caseexpli. 
citly expressed, in the other unequivocally implied. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Extracts from the Memorial of the merchants of Salem, Ms. 

" Your memoralists have witnessed -udth unhesitating approbation the disbositioji 
to 7ieutraltttf, patronised by the general government, at\imes when national wrongs 
have been pressed with peculiar aggravations, and seemed to point to summan- 
redress^ Fn-mness and moderation have happily secured all the advantages of 
successful war, and the sober appeal of reason carried conviction to foreig-n na- 
tions. ° 

"Your memorialists, liowever, liave witnessed, with deep regret and deep 
anxiety, that to some of their tribunals they can no longer appeJl for safety 
.JVe~.v interpretations nj old ndes, and new glosses on ancient doctrines, have been 
arravcd to controul the circuitof neutral commerce, and restrain, if not annihil- 
ate. Its most beneficial operations. Their surprise has been the greater because 
the 7wt,on icho has adopted tliem, is one from ivhom ~.ve had a ri^ht to exbect the 
wost conciliatory conduct ; since witli her, ultimate!}' centre the proceedi of our 
lucTiIl^er''' ''*' P"'"''''^''' *^^ greatest portion of her staple manu 

"The interest.* of Gre.it Britain and the United States, seem in this respect 
mutual. We consume the products of her industry ; and give her, in return, 
besides large sums of money, rem mateinals by -.ohich she may l^-y new coniribu- 
tmrs. bimdanty of manners and Jiabits, of language ajid education, have addei? 



CHAP. 16.] SALEM MEMORIAL. 95 

artificial inducements for intercourse, and gained for her among us a respect 
not sliglitly to be viewed, or inconsiderately forfeited. On all occasions the Uni- 
ted Stales have exhibited to-xards her an amicable interest, and a just, it may be ad' 
ded, a generous polici/. If, therefore, we had favours to ask or receive, our 
claims have been peculiarly strong upon her ; because we have been emphafi- 
cally the sinews of her opulence. But it is believed that the United States ne- 
ver asked of any nation more than justice, and are wiUing to be bound by the 
estabUshed rules of commerce. Your memorialists therefore express deep re- 
gret, because a confidence has been shaken which may not easily be restored ; 
and deep anxiety, because the principles alluded to, if conceded, MUST 
EVENTUALLY PROSTRATE OUR TRADE, OR LEAVE IT AT THE 
ARBITRARY DISCRETIOX OF BELLIGER EJK'TS. Whether peace or 
war prevail, the baneful influence will every where be felt ; and in the latter 
predicament, we shall, as neutrals, share the mischiefs of it without the chances 

of benefit. * 

" The principle, recently established by Great Britain, is, as your memorialists 
understand it, that it is not competent for (i neidrcd to carry on, in war, any trade, 
ivhich he is not accustomed to do in peace ; and that he shall not be pa-mitted to ef. 
feet that in a circuitous, which is inldbited in a direct trade : as corollaries from 
'this principle, she insists that the colonial trade exercised by neutrals, shall 
not extend beyond the accustomed peace estabhshment ; and that whenever the 
neutral imports into his own country colonial produce with the intention to 
tranship it to the mother countiy, if a direct intercourse be interdicted in peace, 
the circuity of the route shall not protect the property from confiscation. It 
seems admitted that such circuitous route, with such intention, is not consider- 
ed as evidence of enemy's property, confiscable within ordinary rules; but 
as a distinct, substantial, and condemnatory principle, independent both in ef- 
ficacy and application. For it yields not to the most clear proof of neutral pro- 
perty, or innocent though misdirected conduct. The unaccustomed trade, or 
the importation with specific intentions, are tlie tests by which every voyage is 
to be tried. 

" In another view, the rule appears to your memorialists as not less untenable 
and unjust. It is stated, as a part of it, that if colonial produce be imported by 
any person with an intention to tranship it on his own account to the mother 
country, it is subject to confiscation. But if importedfor the purpose of general 
commerce, and thrown into the market for general transhipment, it is within 
the exception. To distinguish hctw e&n general and particular intentions, and to 
separate things so subtle'in their own natures, and almost incapable of proof, for 
the purposes'of national decisions, seems a. refl?ie merit reserved for the present age. 
The foundation of this modern doctrine is laid in this principle, that the neutral 
has no right, by an extension of his trade, to afibrd supplies to the belligerent 
to ward off tlie blows of his enemy, and to oppose for a longer period the do- 
minion of his force. But to this your memorialists deem it a conclusive answer, 
that the proposition proves too much ; that, if true, it is a foundation for a far 
more broad and sweeping principle ; that every commerce -with the belligerent is 
inhibited to neutrals ; for every commerce assists hirain resistance, and diminishes his 
necessities. A doctrine thus comprehensive, has never yet been avowed, and it 
is presumed never will be. Yet such must be the logical conclusion ; and it 
shews in-esistibly tlie absurdity of the assumed premises. 

« The accustomed, as well as the unaccustomed trade, is within the terms, and 
must stand or fall together. Either the doctrine is unsound, AjXD ASSUJMEJi 
AS A MERE PRETEXT FOR PREDATORY SEIZURES; or neutrals 
have no rights as such ; and must endure the calamities inflicted by bellige- 
rents in a contest in which tliey liave no voice, and in which they can reap only 
injury. 

" Other considerations add force to the preceding remarks. It is well knowa 
that in time of war neutrals cannot carry on even their accustomed trade in its 
full extent. They are prohibited from trading in contraband goods, and to 
blookaded ports. Variations necessarily arise in the relations of the hostile 
pavers, wliich the neutrsil ought to possess 9, right to tura to lus profit, as an 



98 I'OLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cuap.1&. 

indemnity for the obstructions of liis old trade. These obstructions are of a 
very serious nature. "When exercised in tlie mildest form, they produce OP- 
PRESSIVE SEAIiCHESAJVD DELAYS, EXPEJ^TSIVE LITIGATIOJ^T, 
AKD OFTEjXA total F. UL URE OF AM OTHER WISE L UCRA TIVE 
VOYAGE. Reason would therefore seem to declare, that for the hazai-ds of 
this nature, the benefits arising to neutrals from war, are not more than a just 
equivalent. 

" It is somewhat singular, that a belligerent should invite a trade idth itself, 
luhich it declares fruiidulent ivith its enemtj ,■ and should lift the arm of poiuer to 
crush the neutral, whose conduct is criminal oidij when it ceases to be partial ! 

" Such are tlie remai-ks your memorialists respectfully submit upon the rule 
considered in Itself. On this examination they confess it appears to them, fun- 
damentally incorrect. It subjects commerce to fluctuating decisions ; over- 
throws the ordinary mles of evidence ; and places an immense power to be 
■wielded at the uncontroulable discretion of magistrates appointed by a single 
paity. 

" It therefore wants all the discriminative features of a fundamental proposi- 
tion of the law of nations ; uniformity, precision and general applicability. It 
would, in their opinion, if established, create greater evils than it professes to 
redress, by perpetuating strife, destroying tlie emoluments of trade, embaiTass- 
ing commercial intercourse, and LETTIM^G LOOSE THE PASSIOMS TO 
P^REY OX THE MISERIES, AJVD PLUA'BER THE PROPERTY OF 
THE LY.VOCE.YT. It would subject neutrals to hazards nearly as perilous 
as tliose of actual hostilities j and independent of its influence in stimulating to 
revenge and retahation, IT WOULD TRAjYSFER THE BEJVEFITS OF 
PEACE TOAA'Y VICTORIOUS USURPER OF THE OCEAJV. 

" It is conced'Cd by the British Civilians that during tlie American revohitlon, 
the doctrine was ientirely intermitted, and tlie commerce of neutrals was pur- 
sued according to the ancient code. Many cases of tills period might be cited 
from the admiralty records, which overthrow the rule, and expressly vindicate 
tlie opposite, if precedents are to decide, the judgments of a tribunal esta- 
bhshed in Great Uritain under her sole appointment, and acting with open 
powers, must surely, wlien acquiescence creates tlie law, complete the renun- 
ciation of the contested rule. 

"It is not tlie least singularity attending the conduct of the present war, 
that Great Britain has licensed her sid}jects in a trade -which she declares fraudu- 
lent in others ; that she admits them unmolested to supply her enemy with means of 
resistance, when she declares confiscation is the penally of neutral succo%ir. Were 
the rule ever so just In Itself, it certainly demands relaxation, when the bellige- 
rent partakes the profit, and connives at the breach. If its foundation be the 
unlawfulness of aflbrding assistance to a distressed enemy, surely it ought not to 
be enforced when that assistance Is an authorised object of speculation with the 
distressing belhgerent. 

"It is our pride to believe that the American merchants, with very few ex- 
ceptions, arc as distinguished for good faith as any on earth. The imputation 
thrown on them is a naked pretence to repel the odium of vexatious Injuries, 
and excuse violations of law, which cannot be justified. 

" Your memorialists wish to take no part in the contests which now convulse 
the world ; but acting with impartiality towards all nations, to reap the fruits of 
u just neutrality. If, however, conciliation cannot effect the piu'pose of justice, 
und Aj\' APPEAL TO ARMS be the last and necessary protection of honour, 
they feel no disposition to decline tlie common danger, or shrink from the 
common contribution. 

" Relying on the wisdom and fiminess of the general government in this be- 
half, they feel no hesitation to PLEDGE THEIR LIVES and PROPER- 
TIES in support of the measures ivluch maybe adopted to vindicate the public rights^ 
and redress t/ie public wrongs.'" 

John Hathorne, Joseph Snivigue, Jonathan Mason, 7 p v. 

B. Crowninshield, jr, Joseph White, jr. Joseph Story, 5 t^ommiuee.^ 
Sakm, January 20, 1806, 



CHAP. 17.] REFLECTIONS, 99 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Rejlections on the memorials. Uniform call for redress. Uni- 
form pledge of support- 

A re-perusal of these important, these invahiable documents 
is recommended to the reader. Without bearing in mind their 
contents, it is impossible to form a correct estimate of the policy 
of this nation, or of the merits and demerits of the two parties, 
whose senseless, envenomed, and infuriated hostility was, of late, 
rapidly sending to perdition the noblest country, the happiest 
people, and the best form of government in the world. 

We must not forget for an instant, the cause of these impas- 
sioned complaints, these invocations for redress, these pledges 
of support. This is the most important item in the aflair. It 
was simply the right to re-export the productions of the colonies 
of the enemies of Great Britain — a right which, however clear 
and indefeasible, was wholly unessential to the prosperty of oWc 
country. We might have abandoned it without the sacrifice 6*f 
an iota of the happiness of our citizens, or the real honour of 
the nation. . j^^;>\^- 

No man of decency can deny, after the perusal of these docu- 
ments, that the mercantile citizens of the United States urged— 
it would not be extravagant to say, goaded — the government into 
a resistance of the high-handed and oppressive pretensions and 
outrages of Great Britain. Every paragraph establishes this im- 
portant fact. The expression of the public sentiment on this sub- 
ject was nearly simultaneous from Newburyport to Baltimore. 

That they calculated upon war, as the dernier resort, is obvi- 
ous from the phraseology. It cannot be inisunderstood. When 
the Boston merchants express their reliance, that 

" Such measures will be promptly adopted, as will tend to disembaiTass com- 
merce, ASSERT OUR RIGHTS, and support the dignity of the United States," 
it would be absurd and ridiculous to svtppose these measures 
were to be limited to mere negociation, the utter inefficacy of 
which had been so often experienced. A child would spurn at 
the idea of " asserting the rights and supporting the digjiity of 
the United States^^ by negociation alone. This had already 
proved a feeble resource, and might have been protracted for a 
century, without " asserting''' any of " our rights.''^ Their 
views were not so limited. No. War, war, war. must indu- 
bitably have been in their contemplation, should negociation 
have an unfavourable issue. 

Can any man of common sense doubt, can any man of charac- 
ter deny, that the merchants of Philadelphia calculated on 
WAR, when, after having suggested, 

" That every measure not inconsistent with the honour and interests of the 
nation, by which the great objects of redress and security might be attained, 
should be first tried ," 
they add 

" If such measures should prove ineffectual, ■\vhatever may be the sacrifice 
'^in their part, it will be met with submission ?" 



100 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [caxp. 17. 

When the merchants of Newburypoit 

" Rely with confidence on the FIRMNT^SS and JUSTICE of the governmentj 
lo obtain for them compensation and protection," 

they must have been insane, if they did not calculate upon WAR 
as the ultima ratio. These are the worthy citizens who stand 
recorded in the annals of their country, as having since patrioti- 
callij pledged themselves to resist their own government, 
" EVEN UNTO BLOOD."* 

And who can pretend, that the merchants of Newhaven, when 
they called upon the government 
" FiiTnly to resist every encroachment upon the rights of neutral nations," 

did not calculate upon war? And did they not most solemnly 
pledge themselves to support war, should it eventually be de- 
clared, when they tendered the 

" Assurances of their disposition to give aid and support to EVERY MEA- 
SURE calculated to accomplish this important object ?" 

And when the New York merchants declared their 

« Reliance upon the government of their country, that their rights would not 
be abandoned," 

and that the crisis required 

."AuTHE ENEiiGT, OS wcU as the prudence and wisdom of the government," 

ean there be found a man who will pretend that war was not 
calculated .on, unless other means might be found to accomplish 
the end in view ? It cannot be. 

And is there not a clear and explicit pledge to be found at the 
close of their memorial — 

" We pledge our united support in favour of all the measures adopted to vin- 
dicate and secure the just rights of our country." 

I am credibly informed that there arc subscribed to this me- 
morial, names of persons who lately prayed, fervently and open- 
ly, for the destruction of the armies of the United States invad- 
ing Canada! Most wonderful consistency and patriotism ! 

But the merchants of Salem are more explicit on the subject 
of war than most of their mercantile brethren elsewhere. They 
leave no room for inference or supposition. They most unam- 
biguously declare their views. 

" If, however, conciliation cannot effect the purpose, and AN APPEAL TO 
ARMS be the lust and necessary protection of honour, they feel no disposition 
to decUne the common danger, or shrink from the common contribution." 

And was there ever, since the world was formed, a more so- 
lemn pledge given, than the one with which they close their me- 
morial, and which I here repeat — 

" Relying on the wisdom and firmness of the general government, in this be- 
half, they feel no hesitation, to pledge their lives and properties in support of 

• This monstrous expression was contained in one of their addresses to the 
state legislature! in 1814. 



COAF. 



18] CHARACTER OF MERCHANTS. lO.l 

the measures which may be adopted to VINDICATE THE PUBLIC RIGHTS, 
AND REDRESS THE PUBLIC WRONGS." 

In the next" chapter, I shall investigate the question, how far 
these pledges were redeemed. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Character of merchants by Edmund Burke. IlUbercd and wir 
founded. Merchants as various in character as other classes 

of men. 

Edmund Burke has left on record a most unfavourable cha- 
racter of merchants, which has been a thousand times quoted to 
their disparagement. He has, if my memory do not deceive me, 
asserted, that they have no national attachment or patriotism — 
that their ledger is their Bible — and gold their God. 

1 his character is unfounded and illiberal. All sweeping de- 
nunciations of entire classes are unjust. The merchants are 
as various in their characters as any other description of men. 
There are among them numbers of persons of the highest re- 
spectability — great patriotism — a high sense of honour — great 
liberality--and possessing all the other virtues than can adorn 
the human character. There are likewise some as base and vile 
as the others are excellent. 

There is nothing in mercantile aftairs, or commerce, that has 
a tendency to deteriorate those who follow the profession. It is 
inconceivable how it should be otherwise. The large scale on 
which cmmeyce is conducted, is calculated to expand, not to 
illiberalize the mind. 

Moreover, a considerable portion of the merchants having en- 
joyed the advantages of the best education, must, from that cir- 
cumstance alone, have a fair chance of not meriting the denun- 
ciation of Edmund Burke. 

That the American merchants are, in general, shrewd, intel- 
ligent, and penetrating, cannot be denied. They are, in these 
respects, at least on a level with the merchants of any other 
country. 

It must, however, be acknowledged, that in the course they 
have steered from the commencement of the year 1806, when 
the preceding memorials were presented to Congress, till the 
declaration of war, and during its continuance, they have been 
as lamentably blind to their own vital interests, to the highest 
interests of their country, and to their duty as citizens, as if 
they were almost altogether deficient of the reasoning faculty. 

Thev have inflicted incalculable injury on themselves an J their 
country. Indeed, so intimately in this case were the interests of 
both connected, that they were, necessarily and equally, affected 
by the same wound. I hope to make this appear to their con^ 
viction, and that of the public. 
O. B. 15 



10;2 POLITICAL OLm: BRANCH, [chat. 18. 

The reader has seen that the mercantile part of the communi- 
ty felt the highest indignation in 180G, at the pretensions of En- 
gland to limit the American trade in the colonial productions of 
her enemies ; that they very strongly remonstrated with the go- 
vernment to resist those pretensions; and that they pledged 
themselves to their country and to the xvorld^ to support what- 
ever measures might be necessary to obtain redress — obviously^ 
evidently^ and undeniably contemplating' even zmr with all its 
horrors. I propose to examine how their practice correspond- 
ed with their professions and pledges. 

The pacific measures adopted to effect the object of their de- 
sires were — a prohibition of the importation of some of the most 
important of the manufactures of Gi-eat Britain — an embargo, 
when the injuries we experienced from that nation had vastly in- 
creased — and non-intercourse. 

Did the American merchants redeem their pledge ? Did they 
preserve their faith ? Did they support the government in all or 
anv of these measures ? 

No. They indubitably did not. There is not a candid fe- 
deralist from New-Hampshire to Georgia, that will assert that 
the merchants, as a corps, supported the government in any of 
these measures. I say distinctly, as a corps. There were illus^ 
trious exceptions. But their fidelity in redeeming the pledge 
was unavailing. // was forfeited by the corps — completely for-^ 
feited. 

The clear, indisputable, and melancholy fact is, that after 
having impelled and goaded the administration into ineasures 
to procure redress, they not merely withheld their support from 
those measures, but actually, as far as depended on them, pre- 
vented their success. They hung hostilely on the skirts of the 
government, and defeated the embargo, non-intercourse, and all 
the other restrictive measures. 

I have thus far considered the point in respect to their duty 
as citizens, their plighted faith, and the obligation they thereby 
incurred to support the government in measures which had ari- 
sen out of their memorials, remonstrances, and solemn pledges. 

I now enter on the consideration of their conduct, as it de- 
monstrates an unparalleled blindness towards their own interests, 
and those of their country. 

"Whatever misjudging prejudice, or faction, devotion to Eng- 
land, or hostility to France, may pretend, the solemn fact is, that 
the United States were most grievously outraged and injured 
b)' Great Britain. The violence or excesses of France, enor- 
mous, and iniquitous, and indefensible as they were, afforded no 
justification to those of her enemy. " Retaliation," in the words 
of Mr. Bayard and Mr. Lloyd,^ " was A MERE PRE- 

• In a subsequent chapter, I sliall quote the senthneats of these gentlemen at 
full leneth. 





CHAP. 18.] MERCANTILE PROCEEDINGS. K)3 

TENCE." If A. rob me of my hcrt^ it does notfolloxv that B has 
a right to retaliate on HIM, by robbing ME of my coat or 
ivaistcoat. And still less, if A threaten to rob me, but has not 
the power to do it, has B a right to retaliate on him by robbing 
me. France pretended to blockade England, and seize neutral 
vessels bound there — but was unable to effect her purpose through 
her destitution of naval power. England retaliated on France 
by SEIZING OUR VESSELS bound to that country; and persevered 
in that lawless course for entire years, having depredated on the 
United States to the amount of many millions, and with every 
species of aggravation, of which such an outrage is susceptible 
—and, forsooth, all zvas perpetrated to punish France, xvhom she 
was at the same tiine supply ing- ivith our productions herself! ! ! 
There is not in the history of the world any conduct more gross 
or less defensible. 

When we are laid in our graves, and our factions and con- 
vulsions have sunk into oblivion, posterity will pass a heavy sen- 
tence of condemnation upon these odious, these oppressive, these 
scandalous transactions. 

That America has been the aggrieved nation, and England 
■wholly the aggressor, is palpable from one circumstance. In all 
the diplomatic intercourse that has taken place between the cabi- 
net of St. James's and that at Washington, the former has hard- 
ly ever made the slightest complaint of injustice against the lat- 
ter, except occasionally oi partiality towards France as a pallia-' 
tion of British violence. This, if it mean any thing, must cer- 
tainly mean that xve bore French depredation, insult, and outrage,^ 
more patiently than English outrage, insult, and depredation. If 
it have any other meaning, I shali be gratified to have it demon- 
strated. 

But we inflicted on France one solid, substantial, important, 
and most destructive injury, froin which England wholly es- 
caped. From 1793 to 1812, we uniformly submitted to the vio- 
lation of our neutrality, to the material benefit of one belligerent 
and extreme disadvantage of the other. Our commercial marine 
rvas a constant nursery for Great Britain, to supply hernavy 
■with seamen to annoy and distress her enemy. 

This was an unceasing cause of w^r against us by France. It 
was in direct hostility with fundamental principles of the law of 
nations. It was affording a most decisive and all-important aid 
to one belligerent for the destruction of the other, to an enor- 
mous extent, unparalleled in the histoiy of Europe. 

It results, from the premises, that from the declaration of war 
between France and England, the latter power constandy made 
inroads upon us — ^and we as constantly sought redress — and that 
our principal grievances were the atrocious outrages practised on 
our seamen, and the reiterated and intolerable infringement of 
our commercial rights and privileges. 



104 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANDU, [coAi'. 18. 

Under this view of the case, the correctness of which will not, 
I trust, be disputed, what course ought an enlightened body of 
merchants to steer? 

Suppose them patriotic, public-spirited, and magnanimous; a 
regard to the national honour and interest would impel them to 
uphold the government of their own country in a struggle against 
the lawless outrages of a foreign nation. But even suppose 
them base, sordid, selfish, avaricious, and without a single spark 
of patriotism, public spirit, or liberality, ought not their very 
selfishness dictate the same course? How could they lail to see 
that every edort to harass, to ci-ipple, to embarrass their own 
government, was an eftbrt towards enabling the foi-eign and agr 
gressing nation, to triumph over their country, and to enforce 
its claims, to the manifest and immense injury of their own most 
vital interests ? the latuity of a lad who had been but six weeks 
in a counting-house, and did not at once perceive the cogency of 
these arguments would be pitiable. This point is clear and plain 
in theory. But it does not rest on theory. We have a strong 
and practical illustration of it by our own melancholy experience ; 
an illustration which the merchants of this country will long have 
to deplore. By the Jacobinical, seditious, and disorganizing 
combinations to oppose the measures calculated to procure re- 
dress, England was enabled to enforce the orders in council for 
four years and a half; whereby, during sixteen months, she in- 
terdicted our trade with all Europe except Sweden and her own 
dependencies : that is to say, she forbade us to trade with about 
one hundred and thirty millions of the people of Europe. — For the 
remainder of the time, when she somewhat relaxed her orders, 
she proscribed our trade zvith at least ffty rnillions. 

Never has the sun in his course beheld such transcendent, 
such lamentable, such irreparable folly as the merchants of the 
United States have been guilty of in this instance. Throughout 
the whole of the arduous conflict between the United States and 
Great Britain, they invariably thwarted^ and harassed^ and em- 
barrassed their 07vn /^-overnment. They have defended the go- 
vernment of Britain throughout — and as constantly laboured, in 
the face of reason, justice', and common sense, to put their own 
nation in the wrong. And for what end ? to serve the purposes of 
party ; to enable a few ambitious fuen^ rvho ivere out ofo^ice^ and 
panted to /^et in, to accomplish this object I I ! 
• I once more wish to qualify these observations. There were 
here, as in a former case, noble exceptions among the mer- 
( hants, citizens who displayed the most exalted patriotism, 
rhese exceptions do not invalidate the rule. I consider the 
merchants as a corps (for it is thus onlv^ they can be considered 
in t;ii3. discussion) and as their operations on the government 
and nation were felt — and more particularly, as they acted in the 
eastern States. 



CHAP. 18] MERCANTILE PROCEEDINGS. 105 

Any one of the three pacific measures adopted by this govern- 
ment, had it been duly supported by the mercantile interest, 
would have obliged Great Britain to redress our wrongs, and 
very speedily. We should then have enjoyed an unshackled 
commerce. And had our merchants, either from patriotism or 
selfishness, submitted to a short temporary privation of business, 
they xvoidd have been repaid by a tenfold harvest of most lucra- 
tive commerce. But faction led them astray. 'They rendered 
wholly nugatory all the measures adopted to guard their inte- 
rests, and to extort justice for their wrongs. Great Britain was 
thus encouraged to proceed in her aggressions. This led to a 
wasting war. To the hostile opposition of the mercantile class, 
therefore, we may fairly ascribe its ravages. 

In all the wild, frantic, and fatuitous career of faction — from 
the earliest records of time to the present day, I believe there is 
no parallel case. Never did an intelligent, enlightened, and re- 
spectable body of men, make so immense, so wanton, so irreco- 
verable a sacrifice of their dearest interests, and so completely 
in hostility with the dictates of reason and common sense. 

If Belzebub or Lucifer held the reins of government^ policij 
and self-interest zvotdd dictate that in all contests with foreign 
nations^ he ought to be supported^ unless most manifestly and egre. 
giously unjust. Public spirit and selfishness equcdly combine to 
enforce this precept, 

Hoxv transcendently superior Great B7-itain torvers over us in 
this respect ! What a sublime lesson she holds out — what a noble 
example she offers us to follow I 

She is torn by faction like America. There is a constant strug- 
gle between the incumbents in office, and those who pant after 
the seats they fill. But whenever the honour or vital interest 
of the nation is at stake, party in ti great measure dies away, or, 
at least, becomes incapable of injuring the common cause — all 
unite under the national standard — and, till the end in view is ac- 
complished, distinctions are almost wholly lost in one common 
designation, supporters of their country's interests and honour. 

Not so in America. It is a fatal truth, that at the moment, 
when this page was written, [September 1814] when not merely 
our interest, and our honour, but even our very salvation was jeo- 
pardized, yacf?o« raged in many places with unabated violence ; 
and wicked men were incessantly employed in exciting our citi- 
zens to imbrue their hands in the blood of their countrymen,* in- 
stead of preparing to oppose a vindictive enemy. May the God 
of peace and love dispel the clouds that impend over us — banish 
our discords — and once more unite us in the bonds of harmony 
and charity towards each other. Amen. 

* This was the inevltnble tendency, although not the declared purpose, of a 
very considerable nuniber of the publications in certain newspapers. 



106 POLH ICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 19 

CHAPTER XIX. 

British Depredations brought on the tapis in the Sejiate of the 
United States. Condemnatorij Resolutions passed. 

In consequence of the presentation of the mercantile memo- 
rials, the Senate of the United States took the subject into their 
most serious consideration; and passed the following Resolu- 
tion, on the 10th Feb. 1806. 

" Re-solved, that the capture and condemnation, under orders of the British 
poveriiincnt, iind adjudications of their courts of admiralty, of American vcs- 
fccls antl tlicir cari^ocs, on tlie pretext of their being employed in a trade with 
the enemies of Great Britain prohibited in time of peace, is AN UNFROVO- 
KFI) \t;t;RKSSION Ll'ON THE PROPERTY OF THE CITIZENS OF THE 
UNITED S FATES ; A VIOLATION OF THEIR NEUTRAL RIGHTS ; AND 
AN ENCROACHMENT UPON THEIR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE."* 

I hope the reader will attentively peruse this resolution. It 
is clear and explicit. It solemnly protests against the revival of 
the exploded rule of the war of 1756, as 

" An encroachment upon the national independence, and a violation of our 
neutral rights." 

Stronger language could not be well used. What renders it 
peculiarly remarkable, is, that it was carried by an unanimous vote 
of the Senate^ 28 members present. But secondly and chiefly, I 
beg it may be borne in remembrance, that among the senators 
who thus voted, are to be found Messrs. PICKERING, Hill- 
house, Bayard and Tracy. 

Another resolution, passed February 14, stands in these 
words : — 

" l{esolved, that the president of the United States be requested to DEMAND 
the restoration of the projjerty of their citizens captured and condemned on 
the pretext of its beinff emplnncd in a trade wit/i the enanifs of Great Jiritaiv, prO' 
hibited in time of peace ,- and tlie indemnification of such American citizens for their 
loHtea and (Uimages sustained by these captures and condemnations ; and to en- 
ter into such aiTangements with the British government, on these and all other 
difl'irenccs between the two nations, (and particularly respecting the IM- 
PRESSMENT OF AMEHIC.AN SEAMEN) as may be consistent with the hon- 
our and interests of the United States, and manifest their earnest desire, iox 
thcmselvcB and tlieir citizens, of that justice to wluch they are entitled."! 

There was a division upon this resolution. It was carried by 
twenty airirmative, against six negative votes. Messrs. PICK- 
ED I Xd, Hillhouse, Bayard, and Tracy were in the affirmative, 
as on the former resolution. 

To ol)tain redress from Great Britain, four modes presented 
tliemseUes — negociation — non-intercouse — embargo — or war. 

The first in order required to be first essayed. Accordingly, 
the administration entered upon negociation, and, to attach more 
solemnity to it, Mr. "NVm. Pinkney was ajipointed minister extra- 
ordinary, and united with Mr, Monroe, then resident at the 
court of St. James's. 

• Journal of the Senate for 1806— page 126. f Idem, page 131. 



CHAP. 19] COMMERCIAL RESTRICTIONS. lOT 

To give the negociation a greater likelihood of success, an act 
was passed,* making a strong appeal to the interest of Great 
Britain. This act prohibited the importation into the United. 
States, of a variety of her most important manufactures, viz. 

" All articles of which leather is the material of chief value. 

"All ailicles of which silk is the material of chief value. 

" All articles of which hemp or flax is the material of chief value. 

" All articles of v.'liich tin or brass is the material of chief value, tin in .sheets 
excepted. 

" Woolen cloths, whose invoice prices shall exceed five shillings sterling pel- 
square yard. 

" Woolen hosiery of all kinds. * 

" Window glass, and all the manufactures of glass. 

" Silver and plated wares. 

" Paper of every description. 

" Nails and Spikes. 

•' Mats and cloathing ready made. 

*' Milhnery of all kinds, 

" Playing- cards. 

" Beer, ale, and porter ; and pictures and prints." 

This act was passed on the 18th day of April, 1806, and, a^ has 
been shown, in compliance with t^e remonstrances of the mer- 
chants, as a means of inducing England to abandon her unjust 
pretensions, and cease her depredations. And with a laudable 
view to afford her time to weigh its consequences, and to pre- 
vent a rupture between the two nations, its operation was not to 
commence till the 15th of the following November, a period of 
seven months. Thus reluctant was our government to have re- 
course to extremities, notwithstanding the grievous provocations 
that had been offered. It is impossible to conceive a more leni- 
ent mode of proceeding, or one reflecting more credit on the 
forbearance of an injured and insulted nation. 

Still further to evince the wish of our rulers to preserve peace, 
the operation of this act was, in December 1806, suspended till 
the 1st of July 1807:1 and moreover, the president was author- 
ised, " if in his judgment the public good should require it, to 
suspend it still farther till the second Monday of December in 
the*, same year." 

Here let us pause a moment. The United States had suffer- 
ed depredations on their commerce to an enormous amount, by 
the revival of a pretended rule of the law of nations, which had, 
at a former period, been clearly and distinctly abandoned, and 
of which revival no previous notice had been given. And in- 
stead of having recourse to reprisals, or to a declaration of war, 
either of which would have been perfectly just, they adopted the 
mild measure of restraining the commerce of the aggressor, in 
order to make it his interest to do them justice. Never was great- 
er forbearance shown — ^never was forbearance worse requited. 

* Idem, page 220. f Laws of tlie United States, vol. vi, page 80. 



108 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chat. 20- 

CHAPTER XX. 

Attack on the Chesapeake. Proclamation hiterdktlng our har- 
bours to the British. 

While the depredations sustained by our merchants were yet 
under discussion, a tragical affair occurred, which still further 
unfortunately embroiled the two nations. 

The Chesapeake, capt. Gordon, sailed from Norfolk on the 
22d of June, 1807. The Leopard, of 50 guns, which was moored 
near her, weighed anchor shortly afterwards. She soon over- 
took tlie Chesapeake, and demanded four sailors, three of whom 
had deserted from the British frigate Melampus. The fourth 
was said to have deserted from a British merchant vessel. Com- 
modore Barron, who was on board, refused to deliver the;ti;and 
in consequence, the Leopard commenced an attack upon the 
American frigate, which was wholly unprepared for resistance. 
Three men were killed, and sixteen wounded ; among the latter 
was the commodore, who struck his flag, and surrendered the 
vessel. Captain Humphreys, of the Leopard, sent an officer on 
board the Chesapeake, who seized four of her crew, William 
Ware, Daniel Martin, John Strachan, and John Wilson. 

Of these four persons, one was brought to trial at Halifax, 
and, being found guilty of desertion, was hanged. One died in 
confinement. The other two were retained in bondage till June 
13th, 1812, a few days previous to the declaration of war, when 
they were restored to freedom onboard the Chesapeake, at Boston. 

This outrage excited the utmost indignation throughout the 
United States, and for a time united all parties in the common 
clamour for reparation of the insult and injury, or for war. The 
federalists were as ardent in their denunciations of the lawless 
violence, as the democrats. 

I have already stated the prudence of the then president, Mr. 
Jefferson. The attack took place on the 22d of June — and he 
delayed the extra meeting of congress till the 26th of October, 
to afford time for the effervescence of the public to subside. — = 
This wise measure preserved the country from war. 

But to guard against a repetition of these outrages and others 
which we had suffered within our own jurisdiction from British 
vessels of war, the president issued the follov/ing proclamation 
forbidding them the entrance into our ports and harbours. 

PROCLAMATION. 

During the wars, which, for some time, have unhappily prevailed among 
the powers of Kiirope, the United States of America, firm in their principles of 
peace, have endeuvoured by justice, by a regular discharge of all their national 
and social duties, and by every friendly office their situation has admitted, to 
maintain with all the belligerents their accustomed relations of friendship, 
hospitality, and commercial intercourse. Taking no part in the questions 
which animate the powers against each other, nor pernutting thepiselves to 



ottAP. 20.] PROCLAMATION. 10$ 

entertain a wish but for the restoration of [general peace, they have observed 
with good fiiith the neutrality they assumed : and they beheve that no instance 
of a departure from its duties can be justly imputed to them by any nation. A 
free use of their harbours and waters, the means of refitting and of refresh- 
ment, of succour to their sick and sutlering, have, at all times, and on equal 
principles, been extended to all, and this too amidst a constant recurrence of 
acts of insubordination to the laws, of violence to the persons, and ol' tres- 
passes on the property of our citizens, committed by officers of one of the belli- 
gerent parties received among us. In truth, these abuses of the laws of hospi- 
tality have, with few exceptions, become habitual to the commandei's of the 
British armed vessels hovering on our coasts, and frequenting our harbours. 
They have been the subject of repeated representations to their government. 
Assurances have been given that proper orders should i-estrain them within the 
limits of the rights of, and of the respect due to, a friendly nation -. but those or- 
ders and assurances have been without effect ; no instance of punishment for .past 
wrongs has taken place. At length, a deed, transcending all we have hithertp 
seen or suffered, brings the public sensibility to a serious crisis, and our for- 
bearance to a necessary pause. A frigate of the United States, trusting to a 
state of peace, and leaving her harbour on a distant service, has been surprized 
and attacked by a British vessel of superior force — one of a squadron then lying 
in our waters, and covering tlie transaction; and has been disabled from service, 
with the loss of a number of men killed and wounded. — This enormity was not 
only without provocation or justifiable cause, but was committed with the avow- 
ed purpose of taking l)y force, from a ship of war of the United States, a part 
of her crew; and that no circumstance might be wanting to mark its character, 
it had been previously ascertained, that the sjamen demanded were native citi- 
zens of the United States. Having effected his purpose, he returned to an- 
chor with his squadron within our jurisdiction. Hospitality under such cir- 
cumstances ceases to be a duty ; and a continuance of it, with such unconti-ol- 
led abuses, would tend only, by multiplying- injvu-ies and irritations, to bring 
on a rupture between the two nations. This extreme resort is equidly opposed 
to the interest of both, as it is to assurances of the most friendly dispositions on 
the part of the Britisli government, in the midst of which this outrage has been 
committed. In this liglit, the subject cannot but present itself to that govern- 
ment, and strengthen the motives to an honourable reparation of the wrong 
which has been done, and to that cfiectual controul of its naval commanders, 
which alone can justify the government of the United States in the exercise of 
those hospitalities it is now constrained to discontinue. 

In consideration of these circumstances, and of the right of every nation to re- 
gulate its own police, to provide for its peace and for the safety of its citizens, 
and consequently to refuse the admission of armed vessels into its harbours or 
waters, either in such numbers or of such descriptions, as are inconsistent with 
these, or witli the maintenance of the authority of the laws, I have thought 
proper, in pursuance of the authorities especially given by law, to issue this my 
proclamation, hereby requiring all armed vessels Iiearing commission under the 
government of Great Britain, now witiiin the harljours or waters of the United 
States, immediately and without any delay, to depart from the same ; and in- 
terdicting the entrance of all the said harbours and waters to the said armed 
vessels, and to all othere bearing commissions under the authority of the British 
government. 

And if the said vessels, or any of them, shall fail to depart as aforesaid, or if 
they or any others, so intei-dicted, shall hereafter enter the harbours or waters 
aforesaid, 1 do in that case forbid all intercourse with them or any of them, theii' 
officers and crews ; and do prohibit all supplies and aid from being furnished to 
them or any of them. 

And 1 do declare and make known, that if any person from, or within the 
jurisdiction and limits of the United States, shall aiford any aid to any such ves- 
sel, contrary to the prohibition contained in tins proclamation, either in refit- 
ting any such vessel, or in furnishing her, her officers, or crew, with supplies of 
any kind, or in any manner whatsoever ; or if any pilots shall assi.st in navigating 
any of the said armed vessels, unless it be for the purpose of carrying them, 
O, B. 16 



110 rOLITiCAL 0LI\T: branch. [cuap. 20. 

in tlie first instance, bcvond the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, 
or unless it be in the case of a vesscJ forced by distress, or charged with pub- 
lic despatches as hereinafter provided for, such person or persons shall, on 
coin iction, softer all tlie pains and penalties by the laws provided for such of- 
IbllCeS, 

And 1 do herebv enjoin and require all persons bearing office, civil or mdita- 
ry, within or under the autliority of tiie United States, and all others, citizens or 
inhabitants thereof, or being within the same, witii vigilance and promptitude to 
exert their respective authorities, and to be aiding and assisting to tlie carrying 
this proclumatioii, and every part thereof into full eil'ect. 

l'n)\ i<kd ntvcrtlieless, that if any such vessel sluill be forced into the harbours 
or waters of tlie United States by distress, by the dangers of the sea, or by the 
pursuit of an enemy, or shall enter them charged with despatches or business 
from their government, or shall be a public packet for the coiivcyance of letters 
or dispatches, the connnanding officer, immediately reporting his vessel to the 
collector of the district, stating the object or causes of entering the .said har- 
bours or waters, and conforming himself to the regulations in that case prescri- 
bed under the autliority of tlie laws, shall be allowed the benefit of such regu- 
lations respecting repairs, supplies, stay, intercourse and departure, as shall be 
permitted under the same a\ithority. 

In testimony whereof, 1 have ca\iscdthe seal, &.c. 

tJiven at Washington the second day of July, one thousand eight 
hundred and seven, and of the Independence of the United States 
the thirty first. By the president, 

James Madison, Secretary of State. TH. JEFFERSON. 

At this distance of time, it is hardly possible to realize the in- 
dignation, the abhorrence, the resentment, iniiversally excited by 
the outrageous conduct of captain Humphreys. It pervaded 
every quarter of the union, -without exception. All party dis- 
tinctions were lost for the moment. Federalists and democrats, 
foreigners and natives, all miited in the strongest call upon the 
government to procure redress for the outrage. War was con- 
templated throughout the union : and there was hardly a meet- 
ing held, of which the members did not most solemnly pledge 
thcmstlves to support the constituted atithorities in whatever 
measures might be requisite for the defence of the national rights- 
and national honour. 

To enable the reader to form some idea of the fervid state of 
the public mind, I submit the following extracts to his perusal. 
They are fair specimens of the universal sentiment on this in- 
teresting topic. 

Ej-tract from the proceedings of the citizens of Richmond, July 1, 18071 
" Tli-solved, That while we deprecate the horrors of war, and approve all hon- 
Ourabh- means of averting them, we possess the lirm hope that the government 
of the United States iiilL avenge this utipavaUeled outrage xulth the spirit -wldch be- 
comes the nation, -M^iX which the nation feels ; believing as we do, that however 
unecpial may be our naval strength, our enemies have nevertheless vulnerable 
points within our reach, through which we may strike them vitally." 

Ej tract from the proceedings of the citizens of M'est Chester, July 4, 1807. 
" Resolved vnanimously, Tiiat we shall consider the government of Great Bri- 
tain as h.'iving forfeited all claim to the friendship and hospitality of the govern- 
ment and pe()|)le ()f the United States, until ample and proper satisfaction be 
made ; and in conformity tlierewith, we do solemnly pledge ourselves to main- 
tain tlie strict oliservance of tlie proclamation of the president of the United 
y talcs, by every means in our power." 



CHAP. 20.3 ATTACK ON THE CHESAPEAKE. Ill 

" Resolved, That we shall, at all times, be prepared to encounter all hazards, to 
viaintain the riqhts and indepe)idciice of our country -with our lives and our fortunes ,' 
and thut we will support the administration of the general government hi every 
proper measure which it may adopt, in the alternative of a coerced retribution 
of our wrongs, or in calling forth the energy and resources of the people at this 
important crisis." 

Extract from the proceedings of the citizens of Le^tdstotvn, July 10, 1807. 

" Resolved unanimously. That the repealed aggressions and violations committed 
by Greet Britain against all neAitral nations in general, and particularly against tlie 
persons aiul privileges of oi{r citizens, as a free ami independent people, have 
excited in us a just abhorrence and indignation ; tliat tlie late outrage by the 
Leopard ship of war against the Chesapeake, we consider as a prerHeditated in- 
sult to our government and national character, and wearnig so barbarous an as- 
pect, that lor^er patience would degrade the name of Americans. 

" liesoived unanimously. That if upon the meeting of Congress, it shall be 
found neccss.ary to resort to hostile measures against (ireat Britain for the at- 
tainment of justice, we idll ciu-erfuUg submit to any deprivations or hardships at- 
tendant on a state of war ,- and we will make every exertion to perfect ourselves 
in tile military art," and equip ourselves to oppose the base and cc^vardly ene- 
my of our country." 

Extract from the proceedings of the citizens of Alexandria, June 27,1807. 

" Resolved that the tyrannic conduct of the British nation on the ocean has 
justly rendered her odious among all civilized powers. 

" Resolved, That we view the late savage and dastardly outragl commilted by 
the Leopard British ship of war on the United Stales frigate Chesapeake, with due- 
indignation." 

Extract from the proceedings of the citizens of Wilmington, Delaware, July 4, 1807, 
the venerable John Dickinson, in the chair. 
" Resolved, That we view witli the strongest sentiments of indignation and ab- 
horrence the late unprovoked, lawless, and ferocious attack, made by the British ship 
of war Leopard upon the frigate Chesapeake, and the daring insult offered thereby 
to the flag, the gDvernment, and the people of the United States." 

Extract from the proceedings of the citizens of Baltimore, June 20, 1807. 

" Resolved unanimously, Tliat we view witii indignation ami horror the wan- 
ton attack lately made upon the Chesapeake frigate by the British ship of war, 
Leop.ard, by which many of our fellow citizens have been killed and wounded, 
and the government and flag of our country most grossly insulted. 

" Resolved unanimously. That we will with our lives and fortunes support the 
government in all such measures as they may adopt on this momentous occasion, to 
obtain redress and satisfaction for the outrage aforesaid." 

Extract from the proceedings of the citizens of Philadelphia, Jidy 1, 1807, Joseph 

llnjikinson, esq. Secretary.* 

"Resolved, That the conduct of Great Britain towards the United States, has 
been too often marked by hostility, injustice, and oppression ; and that the out- 
rage committed by the Leopard, one of the ships of war, under the express or- 
ders of one of the admirals, upon the Chesapeake, a frigate belonging to the 
United States, is an act of such consummate violence anil wrong, and of so barbar- 
ous and murderous a character, that it would debase and degrade any nation, and 
much more so, a nation of freemen, to submit to it. 

"Resolved, That we will support the administration of tlie gener.al govern- 
ment in all and every measure which may be adopted by them, to avenge the 
wrongs our country has sufiered from Great Britain, and to compel the most 
rigid retribution ; and that to attain a full measure of justice from her, we 
piedge ourselves to make any sacrifices, and to encounter any hazards. 

* To readers at a distance from Philadelphia, it may not be amiss to state; 
that Mr. Hopkinson is and has always been as decided a federalist as Ilavrisoli 
Gray Otis, Timothy Pickering, or Josiah Quiii'cy, BsqrSt ^ . - 



112 POLITICAL OLtVE ERAKCIL [chap. 20. 

" Resolved, That by the laws and usages of nations, a national ship is always 
exemiJt and free from examinations or search, by any foreign vessel or power. 

Resolved, 'I'liat this premeditated ovtra^e is considered as tantamount to a de- 
claration of war on the part of Great Britain, and as evincive of an hreconalable 

host Hi til to this nation. r-.u tt • 

" liesolved. That we entertain a confidence, that the government of the Uni- 
ted States u-illutlopt the most decisive and vifforous measures to obtain reparation 
for the injuries and wrongs sustained from the government of Great Britain.' 

Extract from the proceedings of the citizens of Pittsburg, Juhj 10, 1807. 

"Resolved, That the late outrageous and hostile co^^uct ot the ofhcers ot 
tlie Hritish navy, to tlie flag of the United States on the coast of Virginia, has 
excited our highest indignation. 

" Resohed, Tliat it istiic duty of every American to aid the government ot 
our country in all measures having a tendency to protect its best interests, its 
honour and independence." 

Extract from the proceedings of the citizens ofjYorfolk, June 24. 

"Resolved unanimouslv, That we view the unprovoked, piratical, savage, 
and assasin-like attack upon tlie Chesapeake with tliat horror and detestation 
which should alwavs attend a violation of the faitli of nations and the laws of 
war ; and we pledge our lives and our proi>erty to co-operate with the govern- 
ment in any measures which they may adopt, whether of vengeance or retaha- 
tion." 

Extract from an address of a committee appointed in J^orfolk, to their fellow Citi- 
zens, dated Juli/ 11, 1807. 

" The la.st deed of savage ferocity, unparalleled even in the naval annals of 
Britain, awakened the sentiment of abhorrence in every breast. Every voice 
•was louil in its cull for reparation, commensurate to the insult ; British insolence 
and barbarity had reached the ne plus ultra. They had the unl)lusliing effron- 
tery to claini the rights of hospitality, while their hands were crimsoned and 
smoaking with tlie blood of your countrymen; even at the instant they had de- 
clared war in sight of those sliorcs from which, not many years past, their dis- 
comfited and recreant myrmidons were driven with disgrace; in sight of those 
monuments, which fill your breasts with a iioly and aspiring admiration for the 
valour and trium[jhs ofyour forefathers. The nation was unexpectedly plunged 
into war, and yourselves the first exjiosed to its ruthless blast. The choice of 
tame submission or resistance was forced on your consideration: with one voice 
you declared that your ancestors had wrested tlieir rights, their hberties and 
independence from the suiFocating grasp of British tyranny, by the sword ;and 
that you, their posterity, had resolved with it to defend and to perpetuate the 
hallowed patrimony." 

Ej-tract from the proceeding.'; of the citizens ofA'e-iu York, Jnbj 2, 1807. 
" liesolved, Tliat we consider the dastardly and unprovoked attack made oil 
the United States armed ship Chesajjeake, by his Britannic majesty's ship, 
the Leopard, to be a violation of our national rights, as atrocious as it is unpre- 
cedented." 

Last in the long list, let me take the liberty of offering to the 
M-orkl the sentiments of the citizens of Boston, in town meeting, 
held in the court-house. 

mstnn, July 10, 1807. 

" Resolved unanimously. That the late aggression, committed by a British 
ship of war on a frigate of the I'nited States, for the avowed purpose of taking 
Irom licr by force a part of iier crew, was a wanton outrage ui)on the persons 
and Ihcs of our citizens, and a direct attack on our national sovereignty andin- 
(lepcndence ; that the spirited conduct of our fellow citizens at Norfolk on this 
occasion, before the orders of government could be obtained, was highly ho- 
nourable to themscb es and to the nation. 

" Resolved unanimously, That the firm, dignified, and temperate policy adopted 
hy our executive at t/tis momentous crisis is entitled to our most cordial approbation 
and support. 



tHAP. 20.] ATTACK ON THE CHESAPEAKE. 113 

" Resolved unanimously, That with all our personal influence and exertions 
we will aid and assist the constituted authorities in carrying the proclamation of 
the president of the United States, in every particular, into full and effectual 
execution." 

Besides the above meeting, there was another held in Boston^ 
at Faneuil Hall, on the 16th of July, .1807, at which John Coffin 
Jones, esq. acted as moderator. John Quincy Adams, Harrison 
Gray Otis, Wm. Eustis, Christopher Gore^ Charles Jones, John 
C. Jones^ Thomas H. Perkins^ Jonathan Mason^ and John War- 
ren, esqrs. were appointed a committee to prepare a report, 
.which contained the following resolutions — 

" Resolved, that we consider the unprovoked attack made on the United 
States' anned ship Chesapeake, by the British ship of war Leopard, a wanton 
outrage upon the lives of our fellow citizens, a direct violation of our national 
Jionour, and an infringement of our national rights and sovereignty. 

" Resolved, that we most sincerely approve the proclamation, and the firm and 
dispassionate course of policy pursued by the president of the United States : and 
we will cordially unite with our fellow citizens in affording effectual support 
to such measures as our government may further adopt, in the present crisis of 
our affairs." 

To those unacquainted with the solemnity and regularity of 
the proceedings in Boston town meetings, it may not be impro- 
per to state, that there is probably no town in the world whose 
public meetings are conducted with more propriety and decorum 
— and that these resolutions are as full and as fair an expres- 
sion of the sentiments of the citizens of the town as evef was 
given. 

I have already offered a few reflections on the charge of 
French influence, so universally alleged against Mr. Jeflerson, 
and so generally believed by the federalists throvighotit the union. 
At the period of passing these resolves, he had been in office six 
years and four months, out of eight years of his presidency. 
And, behold, the town of Boston, after so long an experience of 
his conduct in this dignified and arduous office, passes on him in 
a report expressly drawn up by Harrison Gray Otis, Christopher 
Gore, and other gentlemen of the sjime description, the highest 
encomiums for his "y?rwz aJid dispassionate course of policy^'''' at a 
crisis of the utmost delicacy. What a contrast — what a contra- 
diction between this panegyric and the never-ending abuse, the 
remorseless virulence, with which he has been assailed from that 
period to the present, in that town, by men, the major part of 
whom were probably at the meeting, and concurred in this vote 
of approbation ! Alas ! alas ! what a poor, miserable, contempti- 
ble, senseless animal is man ! To how little purpose is he endow- 
ed with that proud, distinctive faculty, called reason, of which 
he makes so little use ! 

It is due to justice, and to the spirit of impartiality which I 
have studiously laboured to preserve throughout this work, to 
state, that previous to the sailing of the Chesapeake, Mr. Ha- 



114 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH/ [chap. 20 

milton, the British consul at Norfolk, had made repeated official 
demands of tiiese four seamen, which demands were repelled by 
the officers on hoard the Chesapeake, with the concurrence and 
approbation of the cabinet at Washington. This refusal led to 
the orders issued by admiral Bex'keley, then at Halifax, to captain 
Humphreys, to take the men by force. 

It is also due to justice, to state, that as these men had entered 
voluntarily on board the Chesapeake — and as Great Britain 
steadily refuses to surrender foreigners who enter her vessels 
voluntariK- — the claim made for these four sailors was not justi- 
fied or warranted by her own practice. 

The following account of three of the four men thus seized, 
is extracted from a letter written by commodore Barron, to the 
secretary of the navy, and dated April, 7th, 1807. It arose 
from the requisition of the British consul at Norfolk, for their 
delivery. 

" William Ware, pressed from on board the brig Neptune, captain Crafts, by 
the British frigate Mclampus, in the bay of Biscay, has served on board the said 
frigate fifteen months. 

" William Ware is a native American, born on Pipe creek, Frederick county, 
state of MaryUnd, at Brace's mills, and served his time at said mills. He also 
lived at Ellicott's mills, near Baltimore, and drove a wagon several years be- 
tween Hagcrstown and Baltimore. He also served eighteen months on board 
the United States' frigate Chesapeake, under the command of commodore Mor- 
ris and captain James Barron. He is an Tndian looking man. 

" Daniel Martin was pressed at the same time and place. He is a native of 
Westport, in Mussachusotts, about thirty miles to the Eastward of Newport, 
Khoile-Island ; sc'rvcd his time out of New-York with captain MaiTowby, in the 
C:Je<lonia; refers to Mr. Benjamin Davis, merchant, and Mr. Benjamin Corce, 
of Westport. He is a coloured man. 

" John Strachan, born on the eastern shore of Maryland, Queen Ann's county, 

between Centerville and Qucen's-town ; refers to Mr. John Price, and 

Pratt, esq. on Kent island, who know his relations. Strachan sailed in the brig 
Martha Bland, captain Wyvill, from New York to Dublin, and from thence to 
Liverpool. He there left the brig, and shipped on board an English Guineaman. 
He was pressed on board the Melampus, ott' cape Finisterre. To better his 
situation he consented to enter, being determined to make his escape when 
opportunity offered He served on board tlie frigate two years. He is a white 
man, about five feet seven inches high. 

" William Ware and John Strachan have protections. Daniel Martin says he 
lost his, after leaving the frigate." 

AVhile the American mind was festering under the atrocious 
outrage perpetrated by captain Humphreys, the British govern- 
ment issued a proclamation, directing the search for, and seizure 
of British, subjects on board merchant vessels, of which I sub- 
join the two principal paragraphs. 

" For the better execution of the purposes of this our roy.il proclamation, we 
rio authorise and command all captains, masters, and others commanding our 
ships and vessels of war, to stop and make stay of all and every such person or 
persons (being our natural born subjects) as shall endeavour to transport or en- 
tcf themselves into tlu' si rvice of any foreign state, contrary to the intent and 
command of lliis our royal proclamation ; and to seize upon, take, and bring 
away all such persons aforesaid, who shall be found to be employed or serving 
m any foreign mcrcbwit ship or vessel as aforesaid : but v\-e do striptly enjoin on 



<;hap. 21.] BLOCKADE. 115 

all such our captains, masters, and others, that they do pei-mit no man to go on 
board such ships and vessels belonging to states at amity vvitli us, for the pur- 
pose of seizing upon, taking, and bringing away, sucii persons as aforesaid, for 
whose discreet and oi'derly demeanour, tlie said captains cannot answer ; and 
that they do take especial care that no uiinecessari/ violence be done or ottered 
to the vessel, or to the remainder of the crew, from out of which such persons 
shall be taken. 

•' And in case of their receiving information of any such person or persons 
being employed, or serving on board any ship of war belonging to such foreign 
state, being a state at amity with us, we do authorise and command our cap- 
tains, masters, and others commanding our sliips of war, to require of the captain 
or commander of nucli foreign ship of -war, that lie do forthwith release and discharge 
such person or persons, being our natural-born subject or subjects ; and if such 
release and discharge sliall be refused, then to transmit information of such re- 
fusal to the commander in cliief of the squadron under whose orders such cap- 
tains or commanders shall be then serving; which information the said com- 
mander in chief is hereby strictly du'ected and enjoined to transmit, witli the 
least possible delay, to our minister residing at the seat of government of that 
state to which tiie said foreign ship of war shall belong, to demand reparation 
for the injury done to us by tiie unuan-antable detention of our natural-born 
subjects in the service of a foreign state." 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Blockade of the Coast from the Elbe to Brest. Berlin Decree. 

Instead of redressing the grievances of which our merchants 
so loudly, and so eloquently, and so justly complained, the Bin- 
tish government, on the 16th of May, 1806, under the adminis- 
tration of the celebrated Charles James Fox, issued a proclama- 
tion, blockading the coast of Germany, Holland, and France, 
from the Elbe to Brest, extending to about eight htindred miles. 
There never was an adequate force stationed to effect a legal 
blockade of a third part of the coast included within the procla- 
mation. 

The French government, exasperated at this offensive and un- 
justifiable measure, retaliated on Great Britain by the notorious 
Berlin decree, whereby the whole of the British dominions were 
declared to be in a state of blockade, although a single French 
vessel of war hardly dared to shew itself on the seas ! ! ! 

Imperial Decree declaring the British Isles in a state of blockade* 

Imperial Camp, Berlin, J^ovember 21, 1806. 
Napoleon, emperor of the French, and king of Italy, considering: 

1. Tliat England does not admit the right of nations, as universally acknow- 
ledged by all civilized people ; 

2. That she declares as an enemy every individual belonging to an enemy 
state ; and in consequence makes prisoners of war, not only of the crews of 
tuvnerf vessels, but those also oi merchant vessels, and even the supercargoes of 
clie same ; 

3. That she extends or applies to merchant vessels, to articles of commerce, 
and to the property of individuals, the right of conquest, which can only be ap- 
plied or extended to what belongs to an enemy state ; 

4. That she extends to ports not fortified, to harbours and mouths of rivers, 
the right of blockade, which, according to reason and the usages of civilized 
nations, is applicable only to strong or fortified ports ; 

5. That she declares places blockaded, before which she has not a single ves- 



116 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. "^.. 

scl of war; although a place ought not to be considered blockaded, but when 
it is so invested as that no .approach to it can be made without imminent haz- 
ard ; that she declares even places blockaded which her united forces would be 
incapable of doing, such as entire coasts, and a whole empire; 

6. That this unequalled abuse of tlie right of blockade has no other object 
than to interrupt the communication of difierent nations, and to extend the 
commerce and industry of England upon the ruin of tiiose of the continent ; 

7. That this being the evident design of England, whoever deals on the con- 
tinent in English merchandise favours that design, and becomes an accomplice ; 

8. That this conduct in England (wortliy only of the first ages of barbarism) 
has benefited her to tlie detriment of other nations ; 

9. That it being right to opi^ose to /an enemy the same arms she makes use 
of; to combat as she does ; when all ideas of justice, and every liberal senti- 
ment (the result of civilization among men) are disregarded : 

Wc have resolved to enforce against England the usages wliich she has con- 
secrated in her maritime code. 

The present decree shall be considered as the fundamental law of the em- 
pire, until England has acknowledged that the rights of war are the same on 
land as at sea ; that they cannot be extended to any private property whatever, 
nor to persons wlio are not military; and until the right of blbckading be re- 
strained to fortified places actually invested by competent forces. 

Article 1. The British islands are in a state of blockade. 

2. All commerce and correspondence with them is prohibited. Consequently, 
all letters or packets written in England, or to an Englishman, loritien in the 
English language, shall not be despatched from the post-offices ; and shall be 
seized. 

3. Every individual, a subject of Great Britain, of whatever rank or condi- 
tion, who is found in countnes occupied by our troops or those of our alhes, 
shall be made prisoner of war. 

4. Every warehouse, all merchandise or property whatever, belonging to an 
Englishman, are declared good prize. 

5. One half of the proceeds of merchandise declared to be good prize, ancj 
forfeited as in tlie preceding articles, shall go to indemnify merchants who have 
«jufl"ered losses by the English cruisei-s. 

6. No vessel coming directly from England or her colonies, or having been 
there since the publication of this decree, shall be admitted into any port. 

7. Every vessel that, by a false declaration, contravenes the foregoing dispo- 
sition, shall be seized, and the ship and cargo confiscated as English property. 

8. [This article states, that the councils of prizes at Paris and at Milan, shall 
have recognisance of what may arise in the empire and in Italy under the pre- 
sent decree.] 

9. Communications of this decree shall be made to the kings of Spain, Na- 
ples, Holland, Etruria, and to our other allies, whose subjects, as well as ours, 
are victims of the injuries and barbarity of the English maritime code. 

10. Our ministers of foreign relations, &c. are charged with the execution of 
the present decree. NAPOLEON. 

Extravagant as this decree appears, it is capable of some de- 
fence ; a defence not void of plausibility. It was promulgated 
to retaliate the blockade of a great extent of coast, of which, as 
I have stated, two thirds were not invested by any force what- 
ever. And it cannot be denied that if the blockade of a single 
port three miles in extent, much more a long line of coast, with- 
out a force to sujiport it, be legal, the blockade of the British do- 
minions, or even of a whole continent, without a force, is like- 
■wise legal. And on this principle, captain Boyle's celebrated 
blockade of the British dominions, was quite as legal and de- 
fensible, as the blockade, during our late war, of such ports of 
the United States as had no naval force stationed befox-e them. 



cfeAP.22.] MILAN DECREE. llf 

So far as respected American vessels, the Berlin decree was 
not enforced for twelve months. This is a most important fact, 
and is not asserted lightly. It stands on respectable authority, 
to which no objection can lie. This authority is Alexander 
Baring, esq. member of the British house of commons. 

" JVb condemnation of an .American vessel had er'er taken place under it ,- and 
so little did the Frencli privateers interfere witli the trade of America with this 
country, that the insurance on it has been very little higher than in time of pro- 
found peace ,- while that of the American trade with tlie continent of Europe 
has at tlie same time been doubled, and even trebled, by the conduct of our 
cruisers."* 

Besides the above authority, I annex an official proof of my 
position : — 

Paris, JVovember 12, 1807. 

Sir, It was not till yesterday that I received from Mr. Skipwith a copy of the 
decree of the council of prizes, in the case of the Horizon. This is the first un- 
friendly decision of that body under the decree of the t-wenty-frst of J\''ovember, 
1806. ^In this case, and on tlie petition of the defendant, the court has recom- 
mended the restoration of the xvhole cargo. I did not, however, think proper 
to join in asking as a favour, what I believed myself entitled to as a right. I 
subjoin a copy of my note to the minister of foreign affairs. 

And I am, sir, &,c. 

Mr. Madison, &c. JOHN ARMSTRONG, 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Orders in Council of November li?A, 1807. Milan Decree. 

As a retaliation for the preceding Berlin decree, were issued 
the British orders in council of Nov. 11, 1807, whereby all neu- 
tral vessels bound to France, or her dependencies, or to any port 
from which British vessels were excluded — and further, all ves- 
sels furnished with French consular certificates of the origin of 
the cargoes, were declared liable to seizure and condemnation. 
This measure, so destructive to the rights and interests of the 
United States, was predicated upon our acquiescence in the Ber- 
lin decree of November, 1806, twelve months anterior, although- 
that decree, as I have stated, had not been enforced against our 
commerce, and of course we had had no right to remonstrate 
against it. There did not, therefore, exist any appearance of that 
acquiescence which could have warranted this high-handed out- 
rage. 

To enable the reader to judge correctly on the subject of these 
celebrated orders, I annex a copy of them entire. 

At the Court of the ^teen's Palace, the 11th of November, ^ 1807, 
present, the King's most excellent Majesty in Council. 

Whereas certain orders, establishing an unprecedented system of warfare 
against this kingdom, and aimed especially at the destruction of its commerce 
and resources, were some time since issued by the government of France, by 

• " Inquiry into the causes and consequences of the orders in council ; and an 
examination of the conduct of Great Britain towards the neutral commerce of 
America. By Alexander Baring, esq. M. P." London, published Februar)^, 
1808. Re-piiblished in Philadelphia, by Bradford and laskeep. 
O. B, 17 



118 



POLITICAL OLIVE BHANCH. chap. 22.} 



wliicli the Rritish islands were declared to be in a state of blockade ; thereby 
subjecting to capture and condemnation all vessels with their cargoes, which 
should continue to trade with his majesty's dominions : 

" And whereas by the same orders, all trading in English merchandise is pro- 
hibited : and every article of merchandise belonging to England, or coming 
from her colonies", or of her mainifacture, is declared lawful prize. 

" And whereas the nations in alliance with France, and under her controul, 
were required to gi\e, and liave given, and do give, effect to such orders: 

" And w hereas iiis majesty's order of the seventh of January last, has not an- 
swered the desired purpose, either of compelling the enemy to recall those or- 
ders, or of inducing neutral nations to interpose, with effect, to obtain their re- 
vocation ; but, on tlie contrary, the same have been recently enforced with in- 
creased rigour : 

" And whereas his majesty, under these circumstances, finds himself compel- 
led to take further measures for asserting and vindicating his just rights, and 
for supporting that maritime power whicli the exertions and valour of his peo- 
])le have, under the blessing of providence, enabled him to establish and main- 
tain, and tlie maintenance of which is not more essential to the safety and 
prosperity of his majesty's dominions, than it is to the protection of such states 
as still retain their independence, and to the general intercourse and happiness 
of mankind. 

" His majesty is therefore pleased, by and with the advice of his privy coun- 
cil, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that all the ports and places of France 
'and her allies, or nfanij other countri/ at war with his iiiajesti/, and all other ports 
or places in Europe, from which, altlwnE^h not at war with his majestii, the British 
flag is excluded, and all ports or places in the colonies belonging to his inajesty^n 
enemies, shall, from henceforth, be subject to the same restrictions in point of 
trade and navigation, with the exceptions hereinafter mentioned, as if the same 
were actually blockaded by his majesty's naval forces, in the most strict and 
rigorous manner. And it is hcrel)y farther ordered and declared, that all trade 
in articles which arc of liie produce or manufacture of tile said countries or colo- 
nies, shall be deemed and considered to be unlawful ; and that every vessel 
trading from or to the saiil countries or colonics, together with goods and merchan- 
dise on board, and all articles of the produce or manufacture of the said countries or 
colonies, s/iall be captured and condemned as prize tn tlic captors. 

" But although liis majesty would be fully justified, by the circumstances and 
considerations above recited, in estal)lishing such a system of restrictions with 
respect to all the countries and colonies of his enemies without exception or 
qualification ; yet his majesty, being nevertheless desirous not to subject neu- 
trals to any gifater inconvenience tlian is absolutely inseparable from the car- 
rying into elfect his majesty's just detei-mination to counteract the designs of 
his enemies, and to i-etort upon tliemselves the consequences of their owu 
violence and injustice ; and being yet willing to hope that it may be possible 
(consistently with that object) still to allow to neutrals the opportunity of fur- 
nishing themselves with colonial produce for their own consumption and sup- 
ph'; and even to leave open, for the present, SUCH TRADE WITH HIS MA- 

JKS rv's f:\kmies as shall he CAuiar-D ox duiectly with the 

TOUTS or ins MUESTY'S dominions, oh of his allies, in the man- 
ner hcrciuafter mentioned ; 

•' His majesty is tlierefore pleased farther to order, and it is hereby ordered, 
that nothing iierein contained shall extend to subject to capture or condemna- 
tion any vessel, or the cargo of any vessel, belonging to any countiy not de- 
clared by this order to be subjected to the restrictions incident to a state of 
blockade, which .sliall iiave cleared out with such cargo from some port or 
place of tiic country to which she belongs, either in Euro])e or Ameiic.i, or 
from some free port in his majesty's colonies, under circumstances in which 
such trade from sucii free port is permitted, direct to some port or place in the 
colonies of Ids majestifs enemies, or from those colonies direct to the country to 
which such vessel belongs, or to some free port in his majesty's colonies, in such 
•cases and with 8>ich articles, as it may be lawfid to Import into such free port ; 
^or to any vessel, or cai-go of any vessel, belonging to any country not at war 



,CHAP. 22.3 ORDER IN COUNCIL. 119 

Vith his majesty, which have cleared out from some port or place in this king- 
dom, or from Gibraltar or Malta, under such regulations as his majesty may 
think fit to prescribe, or from any port belonging to his majesty's allies, and 
shall be proceeding direct to the port specified in the clearance ; nor to any 
vessel, or the cai'go of any vessel, belonging to any country not at war with his 
majesty, which shall be coming from any port or place in Europe, which is de- 
clared by this order to be subject to the restrictions incident to a state of block- 
ade, DESTINED TO SOME PORT OR PLACE IN EUROPE BELONGING 
TO HIS MAJESTY, and which shall be on her voyage direct thereto ; but 
these exceptions are not to be understood as excepting from capture or confis- 
cation any vessel or goods whicli may be liable thereto in respect of having en- 
tered or departed from any port or place actually blockaded by his majesty's 
squadrons or ships of war, or for being enemies' property, or for any other 
cause than the contravention of this present order. 

" And the commanders of his majesty's ships of war and privateei-s, and other 
vessels acting under his majesty's commission, shall be, and are hereby in- 
structed, to warn any vessel which shall have commenced her voyage prior 
to any notice of this order, and shall be destined to any port of France, or of 
her allies, or of any other country at war with his majesty, or to any port or 
place fi'om which the liritish flag, as aforesaid, is exclude. 1, or to any colony 
belonging to his majesty's enemies, and which shall not have cleared out as is 
herein before allowed, to discontinue her voyage, and to proceed to some port 
or place in this kingdom, or to Gibraltar or Malta. And any vessel whichj 
after having been so warned, or after a reasonable time shall have been afford- 
ed for the arrival of information of this his majesty's order to any port or place 
from which she sailed, or which, after having notice of this order, shall be 
found in the prosecution of any voyage contraiy to tiie restrictions contained 
in this order, shall be captured, and, together with her cargo, condemned as 
lawful prize to the captors. 

" And whereas countries not engaged in the war, have acquiesced in the or- 
ders of France, prohibiting all trade in any articles the produce or manufacture 
of his majesty's dominions; and the merchants of those countries have given 
countenance and effect to those prohibitions, by accepting from persons styl- 
ing themselves commercial agents of tlie enemy, resident at neutral ports, cer- 
tain documents termed " certificates of origin," being certificates obtained at the 
ports of shipment, declaring that the articles of tlie cargo are not of the produce or 
mamfactiire of his majesty's dominions, or to that effect. 

" And whereas this expedient has been directed by France, and submitted to 
by such mercliants, as part of the new sy.stem of warfare directed against the 
trade of this kingdom, and is tlie most effectual instrument of accomplishing the 
same ; and it is therefore essentially necessary to resist it. 

" His majesty is tlierefore pleased, by and with the advice of his privy coun- 
cil, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that if any vessel, after reasonable time 
shall have been afforded for receiving notice of tliis his majesty's order, at the 
port or place from which suclt vessel shall have cleared out, shall be found car- 
ri/ing ami such certif.cate or document as aforesaid, or any document referring to or 
(mtherJicating the same, such vessel shall be adjudged lawful prize to the captors, 
together with the goods laden therein, belonging to the person or persons by 
whom, or on whose behalf, any such document was put on board. 

" And the right honovirable the lords commissoners of his majesty's treasury, 
his majesty's principal secretaries of state, tlie lords commissioners of the ad- 
miralty, and the judges of the high court of admiralty, and courts of vice-admi- 
ralty, are to take the necessary measures herein, as to them shall respectively 
appertain. 

W. FAWKENER." 

The preceding orders were assigned by Napoleon as a reason 
for, and justification of, the Milan decree, of which, although it 
somewhat deranges the chronological order of the work, I here 
submit a copy. But I prefer grouping these three documents 
together, for the ease and convenience of the reader. 



12» 



POUTICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 22. 



IMPERIAL DECREE. 

Jiejoinder to his Britanmc majestifs Order iix Cmmcil, of the llth Mvemher,\^07 . 
M our Royal Palace at Milan, December 17, 1807. 
"Napoleon, emperor of the French, king of Italy, protector of the RhenisU 

confcdenition. . . , ^ ^i n^u 

« ObservinK the measures adopted by the British government on the 11th 
November last, bv which vessels beloni^ing to neutral, friendly,or even powers 
tlic aUies of Kngland, are made liable not only to be searched by English 
cruizcre, but to be compulsorily detained in England, and to have a tax laid 
on tbom of so nuicli per cent, on tlie cargo, to be regulated by the British le- 
gislature. , ■ ,• u- f 
" Obsen iiig that Ijy these acts the British government denationalises ships ot 
every nation in Europe; that it is not competentfor any government to detract 
from its own independence and rights; all the sovereigns of Europe having m 
tnisl tlic sovereignties and independence of the flag ; that if by an unpardon- 
able weakness, and vhlcli in the eyes of posterity woiddbe an indelible staui, 
8uch a tvranny were allowed to be estabhshed into principles, and consecrated 
by usage, the English would avail themselves of it to assert it as a right, as 
thev have availedthemselves of tiic tolerance of governments to establish the 
Infamous principle, that the flag of a nation does not cover goods, and to give 
to tlicir right of blockade an arbitrary extension, which infringes on the sove- 
reignly of every state ; we have decreed and do decree as follows : 

" 1. Every ship, to whatever nation it may belong, that shall have submitted 
to be searched by an English ship, or to a voyage to England, or shall have paid 
any tax wiiatsoever to the English government, is thereby, and for that alone, 
declared to be denationalised ."iohiivc forfeited the protection of its king; and 
to have become English property. 

" 11. Whether the ships tlius dcnntionaUscd hy the arbitrary measures of the 
English g()\ CI mnent, enter into our ports, or those of our aUies, or whether 
they fall into the hands of our ships of war, or of our privateers, they are de- 
clared to be good and lawful prize. 

" HI. The British islands are declared to be in a state of blockade, both by 
land and sea. Every ship of whatever nation, or whatsoever the nature of its 
cargo may be, that sails from the ])orts of England, or those of the English colo- 
nics, and of the countries occupied by English troops, and proceeding to Eng- 
land or to the Englisli colonies, or to countries occupied by English troops, is 
gooil and lawful prize, as contraiy to the present decree ; and may be captured 
bv our ships of w ar, or our privateers, and adjudged to the captor. 

' " I\'. These measures, which are resorted to only in just retaliation of the 
barbarous system adopted hy Kngland, which assimilates its legislation to that 
of Algiers, shall cease to luive an}' elVect with respect to all nations who shall 
have the firmness lo compel the English government to respect their flag. 
They shall continue to be rigorously in force as long as that government does 
not return to the principle of the law of nations which regulates the relations 
of civilised states in a state of war. The provisions of thf present decree 
bhall be ul)rog:ited anil null in fact, as soon as the English abide again by the 
principles of the law of nations, which are also the principles of justice and 
honour 

" All our ministers are charged with the execution of the present decree, 
which shall be inserted in tlie bulletin of the laws. 

NAPOLEON." 

On the 25th of November, 1807, an additional order in coun- 
cil was issued, and on the 25th of March 1808, an act of par- 
liament passed, oi both whereof the object was to permit a trade 
between neutral nations (the only neutral nations then were the 
United States and Sweden) and France and her dependencies, 
on the condition that the vessels enq-as^-ed in it should enter some 
British port, PAY A TRANSIT DUTY, and take out a li- 



CHAP. 22.] TRANSIT DUTY. 121 

cence ! And the British government affected to regard this ar- 
rangement as a favour conferred on neutrals ! ! ! This was 
fairly capping the climax. 

It may not be unsatisfactory to the reader^ to state the duties 
thus laid on the exports of the United States by a foreign na" 
tion. Well might Mr. Baring declare — 

" It is immaterial whether it be a tax on stamps, or on cotton. This ques- 
tion has been the subject of a long and bloody war." 

Goods allowed to be bonded. 

Barilla ... 10s per cwt. or - - g 2 22 

Bark (Peruvian) '. - 6s — 

Cochineal - - - 7s — 

Cocoa nuts ... 20s — . . - 

Coffee - - . 28s— - - 

Ginger - - - 7s — 

Gum Arabic, and Senegal - 10s — - - - 

Hemp ... 15s — ... 

Hides (raw) - - 3s per hide 

Jalap ... Q(i per lb. 

Indigo - - - 2s — 

Iron (in bars) - - 6Gs — per cwt. 

Pimento . . - . "id per lb. 

Pitch ... 4s 4rZ per 31 1-2 gal. 

Quicksilver - - . Is per lb. . 

Rhubarb ■ . . - 2s — 

Rice ... 2s per cwt. 

Rum and Spirits single . 8d per gal. 

Do. over proof - . Is 4J - 

Sugar (brown or Muscovado) 10s per cwt. 

Do. (white or clayed) - 14s per cwt. 

Tallow - - - 7s— . 

Tar . - - 4s 4J per 31 1-2 gal. 

Tobacco - - . Id 1-2 per lb. - 

Turpentine (common) - 3s 6d per cwt. 

Wine - - . 120s per 252 gals. 

Wood (mahogany) - - 20s per ton 

Cotton - - - Wperlb. 

Timber - . . 2rs per 50 c. feet - 

Masts, &c. 6 inches under 8 Ss per piece . - *• ' 

8 12 10s — 

12 and upwards 27s — . . - 

Goods not alloiued to be boniled, and upon which the home consumption duties must 

be paid on importatio7i. 

Anchors 40 percent on the value 

Annatto - - . 48s M per cwt. 

Argol - - . 5s — 

Ashes ... lOs — ... 

Oak bark - - . 2s 6d - 

Bread - -. 4s — 

Butter - . . 20s— - 

Cable and Cordage - . 18s — ... 

Wheat - - - 10s per qr. 

Wheat meal and Flour - 5s per cwt. 

Stock-fish - - - 2s6rfperl20 

Other Fish ... 4s per cwt. 

Seed Oil - . . 210s per 252 gals. 

JPo"k - - - 17s 6d per cwt. - - 3 92 

Flax-seed - - - is- 6J per 56 lb. - - 33 



1 35 


1 57 


4 44 


6 28 


1 57 


2 22 


3 33 


67 


11 


45 


13 32 


4 


96 


22 


45 


45 


15 


30 


2 22 


3 11 


1 57 


96 


3 


78 


26 64 


4 44 


17 


5 98 


1 11 


2 22 


5 98 



10 65 


1 11 


2 22 


55 


90 


4 44 


4 00 


2 22 


1 11 


56 


90 


46 62 



132 POLITICAL OLIVE BKANCH. [chap.Sox 

Prize ^oods prohibited. Goods not enumerated, but which may be used in 
Great llritaiii ; on the present duties, 40 per cent. 

A letier from y/<j^Aiow, ////^/if.v an^/ i>w/tca«, of Liverpool, dated m the be- 
giniunj^ of April, 18U8, has tliis paruj^raph : 

" TJiesc duties to attach to the cai-goes of all vessels hoimd from the United 
Slaten iv those ports on the continent, nvhich arc under the iiijiuence of France, and 
an-ive in this country, in compliance -with the orders in council of the eleventh of 
J^'ovembei-." 

.? Simopsis of part of the effects of these duties. 

" A cart^o of cotton, of 100 bales, of 300 lbs. each, which is about the com- 
mon weight, paving 9d sterling per lb. in England, would amount to the pre- 
cise s\im of 50,000 dollars. The same cargo of cotton at 14 1-2 cents,* the aver- 
age price for fine Louisiana cotton, would not cost at New Orleans more than 
43,5U0 dollars. Thus the exporter would have to pay 6,500 dollars in London, 
as a duty for Ubcrty to proceed to the continent, more than the original cost — 
to this might be added the various other charges of tonnage, &c. amounting to 
about 2000 dollars more. 

" A cargo of tobacco may be said to consist of 400 hogsheads — ^for the sake of 
round numbers, we will suppose each hogshead to weigh only 1000 lbs. and 
the account stands thus— 400,000 lbs. Tobacco, at Id 1-2 sterUng 
der pound is 2,500/. sterling, or §11,100 00 

Tonnage, at 12s per ton on 400 tons, is 240/. sterling, or 1,065 00 

"Light money and various other charges and attendant expenses, 

would amount to 800 00 



^ Amount of tribute on a cargo 12,965 00 

*• Of the 80,000 hogsheads sve geuerally exported, but about 12,000 were 
consumed in the British islands. The rest went to the continent. Put them, as 
before, at 1000 lbs. each, and what is the amount of tribute on this single article ■' 
68,C»0O hogsheads tobacco, weighing each lUOO lbs. is 68,000,000 
lbs. at Id l-2d .sterling per pound, is 425,000/. or gl,998,000 00 

170 ships' toiuKigc, &c. at 2000 dollars each 34u,000 00 

" .\mount of annual lnl)utc on tobacco 2,338,000 00 

" A siiip would carry about from 3000 to 3500 barrels of floiU' ; say foy the sake 
of calculation, 6000 cwt. 

" 6,000 cwt. at 5s sterling per cwt. amounts to 1,500/., or ^6,660 00 

" Tonnage and charges, as above 1,865 00 



•* Amount of tribute on one cargo of flour 8,225 00 

"A siiip load offish would cost about 3,500 or 4,000 dollars, including the 
duties and chargcs."f 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Tfir orders in Council., of November 11, 1807, defended by Ame- 
ricans. Founded on the untenable plea of American acquies- 
cence 1)1 the Berlin Decree. Enquiry into the causes and 
consequences., by A. Baring., Esq. M. P. 

Pi-KNir. lot's as were the orders in coixncil to the most vital in- 
terests of the United States — degrading as was the condition of 
paying a transit duty in English ports — and unjust and unfound- 
ed as was the allegation on which these orders were predicated, 

* This was written previous to the late war, and states the prices in 1807. 
t For all these statements and calculalioiis I am indebted to Niles's Weekly 
Register, vol. 3, page 79. 



CHAP. 23.) BARING'S ENQUIRY. 1^3 

there were defenders of them in this country— Americans bom. 
Among the number were men in high and elevated stations, 
possessing a great degree of pviblic confidence and pohtical in- 
fluence. It is a most singular fact, that the cause of England 
has been far more ably supported in our congressional debates, 
and in our political speculations and essays, than in London it- 
self. No man of character or standing in society in that city, or 
in the British parliament, has attempted to deny the magnitude of 
our wrongs. The ministry and their friends have palliated their 
proceedings by the miserable plea of necessity — and of retalia- 
tion — a plea that Barbarossa, or Koulikan, or Bonaparte, could 
with equal justice advance. But such respectable men as the 
Koscoes, the Whitbreads, the Barings, have bestowed on the 
outrageous measures of their government, the most unqualified 
reprobation. I have it not in my power at present to refer to the 
debates in parliament. But I perfectly well recollect, and such of 
my readers as have access to them will see at once, that the rec- 
titude of the conduct of our government, and its mild endea- 
vours to procure redress, have received the most unequivocal 
encomiums from some of the most illustrious characters in 
Great Britain. 

The respectability of Mr. Alexander Baring is a matter of 
public notoriety throughout the commercial world. There is no 
man in England more attached to the honour and interests of 
his country. His testimony has been, as I have said, uniformly 
borne in our favour, and against the enormous injustice of the 
orders in council — and as it cannot fail to have a weight propor- 
tioned to his talents, integrity, and character, I shall very freely 
quote from such an unexceptionable source. 

The orders in council of Nov. 11, 1807, were, as we have 
seen, predicated upon the pretence of our acquiescence in the 
Berlin decree. Mr. Baring having stated the fact,* that this 
decree had not been put into operation against our commerce, 
and that therefore, we had no right to remonstrate against it, 
proceeds, 

"Unless, therefore, his majesty's ministers have some information of which 
the public are not possessed, and which contradicts the very clear evidence the 
public do possess, we must conclude that the assertion in the ordei-s in council 
that America had been guilty of that acquiescence in the decrees of France, 
which was to draw down, and has drawn down upon her, our menaced retalia,- 
tion, is totally void of foundation.'"\ 

The fallacy of the allegatioti of an acquiescence in the Berlin 
decree having been proved, Mr. Baring thus accounts for the 
Milan decree, which was the offspring of the orders in council 
of November 11, 180r. 

" If what has been stated, be coiTect, that our orders in council are not jus- 
tified, by any previous provocation, they must be evidently acts of original ag- 
gression; and France retaliated much in the same manner and with the same 

* See page 117, f Baring's Enquiry, page 70. 



124 rOUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 23. 

right as we ovirselves should have done, had the BerUn decree been rigidly 
executed.'" 

The following masterly analysis of 'the orders in council is 
taken from Mr. Baring's " Enquiry." 

" Jll trade directly from Amenca to every port and country at war tvith Great 
Britain, or from -u-hich the Brilish fag is excluded, is totally prohibited. In thin 
general prohibition, every port of Europe, with the exception at present of Sweden, 
it intituled : and no distinction whatever is made between the domestic produce of 
America, and that of the colonies, re-exported from tiience ! ! ! 

" 'I'lie trade from America to the colonies of all nations, remains unaltered by 
the present oi'der. America may export the produce of her own country, but that 
of no other, to Sweden. 

•• Witli tiie above exception, all articles, whether of domestic or colonial pro- 
duce exported by America to l-Auope, ipust be landed in this country [England] 
from whence it is intended to permit tiieir exportation, under such regulations 
as shall be hereafter determined. 

" By these regnilations it is understood that duties are to be imposed on all ar- 
ticles so re-exported. But it is intimated that an exception will be made m fa- 
vour of such as are the produce of the United States, cotton excepted. 

" Anv vessel, the cargo whereof shall be accompanied with certificates of 
French'consuls abroad, of its origin, shall, together witli its cargo, be hable to 
seizure and condemnation."! 

It is proper here to make a solemn pause. The subject de- 
serves the deepest, the most serious reflection. Let us examine 
this sketch, drawn by a masterly hand, beyond the reach of sus- 
picion. Let us consider the despotic, the lawless claims it asserts 
— the prostrate, the base, the despicable state in which it places 
the commerce and the rights of a sovereign, an independent, an 
unoffending nation — a nation whose trade was of incalculable 
importance to the power thus daring to legislate for her, and de- 
.stroy her dearest rights of sovereignty. When all this is fair- 
ly and dulv weighed, let us correctly appreciate the conduct oi 
so many Americans, who have asserted with a zeal worthy of a 
good cause, that England " has really done our commerce no es- 
sential injury!"-}: The annals of the world can produce nothing 
more indefensible — nothing more astonishing. 

The end proposed by the British government in this stupen- 
dous project of usurpation, is thus ably sketched. 

" 7/ie Jlmeiicans are to brin^^ to this country all the produce of their own, and 
all that of onr enrwit's' colonies, which they export to Europe. We are here to 
form a grand emporium of the costly produce nf Asia and America, which is to 
be dispensctl to the different countries of Kurope, under such regulations as 
we may think proper, I suppose, according to their good behaviour. Taxes 
are to be raisrd from the consumers on the continent ; and they are to be contrived 
with such judicious skill :Lsto secure our own West India planters a preference 
over tliose of Culia and Mailinique."§ 

" 'I'lie American mercliant, witli the best intentions of trading legally, can- 
not always know what this country permits ; for we admit that upholding a ge- 
neral principle which we never enforce, we may and do vary our pei-missions to 
neutrals under it as we please. Supposing him in this respect not liable to er- 
ror, he is exposed to unjust decisions in our vice admiralty courts — a danger of 

• Baring's Enquiry, page 70. f Idem, page 12. t Mr. Pickering's letter 
to governor Sullivan, page 1,2. § Bai-ing's Enquiry, page 16. 



dHAp. 23] BARING'S INQUIRY. 125 

no common magnitude, if we are to believe the assertion of lord Hawkesbury 
in the iiouse of commons, tlie 29th of April, 1801, that of 318 appeals from these 
courts, only 35 of the condemnations were cQufrmed."* 

What a hideotis picture of the rapacity and piratical proceed- 
ings ol the British privateers is here exhibited! It is not unfair 
to suppose, that of the number of vessels captured and brought 
in for adjudication, one-fourth were cleared in the West Indies. 
Admitting this calculation, the whole number of captures em- 
braced in the statement of lord Hawkesbury, was probably 420, 
of which about 100 were cleared in the West Indies — 283 un- 
justly condemned there, and afterwards cleared in Great Britain 
— and only 35 really and bona fide lawful prize — so that it ap- 
pears, that of every twelve vessels brought in for trial, eleven 
were unjustly captured ! 

" If we liad maintained and defended this doctrine boldly and fairly against 
all nations, good arguments in favour of it coLdd not he wanting. But wlien we 
have uniformly yielded it, and indeed forborne to claim it, can it be consistent 
either -with magtianimitti or good puUcy, to brinq- it forward now, liKCAUSE THE 
ONLY REMAINING 'neutral HAS A DEFENCELESS COMMERCE ? If 
aiich cowardly injustice is to be one of our resources in these trying times, when eleva- 
tion of sentiment and of national character are more than ever wanted, the means and 
sirengtli of this powerfid empire arc inde/'J strangely 7nisiinderstood.'"'\ 

This is the language of a dignified character — language wor- 
thy of Athens or Rome when their glory was at its zenith. Hap. 
py would it have been for Great Britain — it would have placed 
her character on a towering eminence, had her statesmen, instead 
of the course of lawless depredation they pursued, been actuated 
by such elevated sentiments. 

"This decision [in tlie case of the Essex, Orme,] although the distinction 
was not made to catch the common eye, was well known to embrace the whole 
foreign trade of America, excepting that in her own produce. It circulated ra- 
pidly among our cruizers and privateers ; and in the course of a fortnight the seas 
were cleared of every American ship they coidd find,w\\\ch. now crowded our ports 
for trial ; and our West India merchants were gratified by neutral insurance and 
freights being at least doubled by this ingenious discovery. "Ij 

" This decision laid the fouiadation of all the complaints of America of our 
vexatious measiu-es against lier trade, as it introduced a totally new line of con- 
duct towards it; and that change produced the non-importation act, at which we affect 
so much indignGtio7i.'''if 

" Nor was the injury to the Americans confined to the application of these 
new and vexatious principles ; for our privateers, apprehending little danger 
of being made answerable for their erroi", wei'e not disposed to make nice dis- 
tinctions ; but detained and sent in every vessel they met with, under the most fri- 
volous pretences; in wldch they were also encowaged by tiie expectation of actual 
■war. Of the extent to whicli this was carried, some idea may be formed, when 
it is stated, that cargoes, wholly of American produce, and of the produce of 
neutral countries trading with America, were captured, and even brought to 
trial."§ 

" The owners of privateers are in the daily practice of bringing in valuable 
cargoes, and offering immediately to release them for one or two hundred giuneas. 
Tliey sometimes require a much larger sum. The London merchant is either 

* Baring's Enquiry, page 43. f Idem, page 47. H Idem, page SO. 

?• Idem, page 51. § I'Jem, pages 57 add 58. 

O. B. 18 



126 



POLITICAL OLn-E BRANCH. [chap. 23. 



obU^edto acquiesce in THIS INIQUITOUS llOBBEllY, or let his correspon- 
dent siitrer the more expensive vexations wliich it is unfortunately in the 
power of lliose people to infiict."* , . , c 

•■ The measures resorleil to by America, under these circumstances of pro- 
vocation, M'ere ccrUiinly of the »m7</f.s'/ .v/>.'c/V'.v of IwstiUl,j, and such as evidmthj 
,ho.L'ed a desire of jHcue. A law was passed prohibitin.^• the importation ot ccr^ 
tan\ articles of Bnlisli manufacture ; by which a demonstration of commercial 
w aifare was certainly intemled. But it is such as every independent natioii, 
even in lime of peace, has a ri^ht to resort to without giving offence ; and it 
the comnurce of America were to be materially interrupted, a reduction of 
her iniport.itii.n of European articles became indispensable. This law, after 
dilli. rent suspensions, is not yet repealed. Of its wisdom, as a commercial mea- 
sure, there niav be doubts; but as an aimoi/ance of our trade, for the purpose of 
enfurcinir a respect for theirs, ive have no right to complain of it.]'' 

" U" we had treated the commerce of America w ith sincerity, instead of mo- 
lesiinj? it, as we liav.- seen, BY A liKPETlTION OF THE MOST UlSGRACK- 
FL'L CIIK'AXE, that commerce would have suffered less, and our own ends 
would have been answered. Such an apijeal to the good sense of that country, 
would certainly have been less likely to produce war than the sophistry witli 
which they have been treated, and of wliich every man in it must detest the 
follv.'N 

"■/or so extensive an infmf to a countrr,, AVHOSE RIGHT OF INDEPEN- 
DENT SOVEREIGNTY WAS A lOLATED, AND WHOSE COMMERCE 
WAS DESTKOVEl) BY THIS PROCEEDING, it would have been in vain 
to search lor autliorities or precetlents any where."§ 

We have seen that French consular certificates of the origin 
ot the cargo of a vessel, by the orders in council, subjected both 
vessel and cargo to condemnation. On the iniquity of this fea- 
ture of the orders, Mr. Baring remarks : — 

*' We ill many cases require foreign articles, imported into this country, to 
be accompanied by certificates fnmi our consuls abroad. Nothing can, there- 
fore, be more frlvoKnis than the assertion of our right to complain of the ac- 
quiescence of American merchants in tlic regulations of France respecting cer- 
tificates of origin.^ 

I hope the reader will attend to the consequences of this fea- 
ture o( the orders in council. Let it never be forgotten. It is 
wcniliy of being borne in eternal remembrance. If they had no 
other oilious teature, this -would be sufficient to disgrace them, 
uikI their authors and abettors. Suppose Mr. George Cabot, 
lilr. Janies Lloyd, jun. Timothy Pickering, Commodore Dale, 
or any other citi/.en of tlie United States, to send a vessel to 
sea, owned by himself, manned with American sailors, and 
loaded with American productions — l>ound for the solitaiy 
corner of Europe, Sweden, which was not interdicted by the 
orders in council — suppose her provided with a French consular 
certilitate of the origin of the cargo: and finally, to close oui 
supjjositions, suppose her carried into London by a British pri- 
vateer, and brought before Sir William Scott for adjudication. 
She would most assuredly be condemned for an infringement 
OF THE LAW OF NATIONS, in being' provided xvith a French 
consular cerOjhate ! 1 1 What an awful mockery of justice in 

• Barinp's Enquiry, i)age 58. f Idem, page 59. 4 Idem, page 3 
^ Idem, page 64. \ Idem, page dOi. 



CHAP. 23.] BARING'S ENQUIRY. 127 

those who prescribed — what a shameful prostration and baseness 
of mind in those who preached submission to — such a lawless 
regulation, calculated to '' prei/ upon the unprotected property of 
a friendly power. ^'^ 

" The comprehensive nature of the injury which America must suffer from 
our system, by leaving no class of its population unaffected by it, atfurds little 
hope'of the uiterfereiice of any for the preservation of peace. The great in- 
terest which a countiy still possessing the means of independence, should feel 
in the preservation of ours, -d-ill be lost in the more immediate and perceptible coii- 
seguencen of our foUy and injnstice."j[ 

"■ The new orders were of a description to produce a revolution in the whole 
commerce of the world; and a total derangement of those mutual rights and 
relations by which civilized nations have hitherto been connected.''^: 

" It must be evident from the whole tenor of our proceedmgs, that commer- 
cial interest has been our moving principle throughout ; that every demmistru- 
tion of the slightest hostilitu on the other side, has onginatsd in our attempts to ad- 
vance that interest in violating' the rights and interests of others ,- and that if -wc 
are at last called upon to take up arms, it is on our part a quarrel about sugar and 
coffee, and not in support of national honour."^ 

"" The consequences of such a state of things mvst produce ruin to every class 
and description of persons in America: and they are so obvious, so inevitable, 
that one cannot avoid thinking, that they must have occurred to the framei-s of 
this new system."'! 

" To make this limitation of neutral trade a part of the lawof nations, it is not 
sufficient that it should be asserted by one power. It must likewise be admit- 
ted by others ; which is so far from having been the case, that in all our discus- 
sions "about neutral riglits, wc have not only never obtained from any nation a 
recognition of this rule, but it aoes not even appear to have been at any time se- 
riously insisted upon."\\ 

" What can then be the object of holding up this rule [of 1756] as the palla- 
dium of our maritime rights, or why has it lain so long dormant ? instead of 
America being accused of a disposition to encroachment hostile to our dignity, 
in refusing to admit into the law of nations, a principle whicli has neither been 
admitted by or enforced toivards others, are we not rather ourselves wanting to 
our own dignity in proclaiming a law wliich we have never ventured to defend; 
in setting iip a right, which, by our own treaties with foreign nations, we have 
ourselves encouraged them to trample im i"'** 

" It would have been highly interesting to know how many instances [of 
fraudulent ownership] had been discovered ; as by pointing tlu-m out to our 
government, redress miglit have been obtained by application to that of Ame- 
rica, wiiose strict attention to the character of her flag has always been re 
markable."tt 

" I must say, and I speak from considerable experience, tliat the character 
of tlie great body of merchants in America, httle deserves the unjust insinua- 
tions in which writers on this subject have indulged." tt 

" During a considerable part of the last and present war, we have indeed re- 
spected tlie rights of those not concerned in it. But the conduct even op' France 
can furnish fe~cv stronger proofs of a disregard of them, and of more fnvolous pre- 
tences by which they have been invaded, than may be found in our conduct in 1805, 
and still more in the recent measures which we have tieen considering."^^ 

"If our commercial treaties with Portugal are to be held up, as they have 
been, to the admiration of statesmen, we cannot fail to admire the liberal policy 
of .\merica towards the produce of our industry, when we consider the large 
balance which she annually pays us, and our illiberal jealou.sy of her intercourse 
with other countries, from which alone tliat balance can be paid."111[ 

* See Boston Memorial, page 89. f Enquiry, page 78. + Idem, page 10. 
§ Idem, page 79. 1 idem, page 18. || Idem, page 22. ** Idem, page 23. 
ft Idem, page 32. it Wem, page36. ■§§ Mem, page 71- 111 Idem, page 88. 



128 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 23. 

" If my former observations produce, as I think they must, a conviction that 
the trade and propsrtvso sported witii, belone;' to an honest neutral, there can 
be no doubt tliut OIU CONDUCT TOUAWDS IF DESEHVKS THE NAME 
OF THE MOST UNQUAUFIEL) INJLS IICE."* 

I solemnly invoke the reader to re-peruse these extracts, with 
all the attention whicli their importance requires. They are 
overwhelming and unanswerable. They stamp with the seal of 
condemnation the orders in council, their British framers, and 
American apologists. Never was testimony more cogent. And 
never did power more completely forget and trample upon right 
and justice, than in this instance did the British ministry. 

The reader who compares the style and substance of the me- 
morials, with Mr. Baring's essay, will find that coincidence, 
that eogencv, that irresistible conviction which result from truth 
and lionourable principles. The American merchants, eloquent- 
ly and convincingly pleading for the rights of their country, and 
their own personal interests, unjustly assailed — speak nearly the 
same language, and make use of the same arguments, as Mr. 
Baring, when he sought to save his country from the disgrace 
and dishonour of employing her transcendent naval power to 
overwhelm and prey upon the commerce of an unoffending- 
neutral, merely because that neutral was not in a state to defend 
lierself. 

I trust that no apology can be necessary for these copious ex- 
tracts on this all-important topic. The high standing and cha- 
racter of the writer, as I have already observed, and take the 
lil)erty to repeat, entitle his sentiments to peculiar attention. 
Moreover, as an English merchant, interest, were he swayed 
by such a consideration, would have led him to advocate the 
or lers in council. But he had too high a regard for the honour 
of his country, to wish it to be sacrificed to paltry and sordid 
consiilerations of interest. 

After the reader has with the deep attention the subject de- 
scr\es, perused the above eloquent defence of American rights 
— exposure of our wrongs — and appeal to the honour and justice 
of (ireat Britain, writteti by a high-spirited and noble-minded 
Englishman, let him ])onder for a moment on the conduct of 
those Ainericans who have devoted their talents, their industry, 
anddieir influence, to defend the outrageous proceedings of Great 
Britain, and to place their own coimtry uniformly in the wrong. 

What ;i humiliating contrast ! — Mr.' Baring pleading the cause 
of the injured Ignited States in London — and Mr. Pickering and 
hundreds of other Americans pleading in Boston, New York, 
Philadelphia, and elsewhere, against their own country, and in 
deO-nce of British inroads and British violence ! 

The contemplation iills the mind with astonishment ! Notwith- 
standing the evidence is so full\- before us, as to be irresistible, 

• Enquiry, page 57. 



CHAP. 24] EMBARGO. 139 

it is not easy to believe that such an awful delusion could have 
ever existed, and to such an extravagant extent. 

It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to find in historv any 
parallel case. Enlightened American merchants, alas ! so lar 
blinded bv party and faction, as to use their utmost endeavours 
to prevent the government of their country from procuring re- 
dress of intolerable grievances which bore so heavily on them- 
selves i 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Embargo. Situation of American Commerce. Factious clamour. 
Embargo a wise^ prudent, and Jiecessary measure. 

I NOW proceed to consider the subject of the embargo, which, 
was one of the most potent instruments employed to exasperate 
and inflame the passions of the people of the eastern states, and 
which actually prepared a portion of them for open resistance to 
the government. 

The justice and propriety of every measure depend on the 
circumstances that accompany and induce it — the motives that 
lead to its adoption — and the consequences it is calculated to 
produce. Eet us apply these tests to the embargo. 

The reader has had the decrees and orders in council laid be- 
fore him in extenso. He has seen the exposition of the injustice 
of the latter by Mr. Baring. And he has had an opportunity 
himself of calculating the effects of both decrees and orders. 

From a calm consideration of these docviments, and of their 
inevitable operation on our trade, it is perfectly obvious, that had 
our vessels sailed in December, lo07, and January, February', 
March, April, and May, 1808, as freelv as they had formerly 
done, they would have universally fallen sacrifices ; those bound 
for France and her dependencies, to British — and those bound 
for the British dominions, to French cruisers. 

This would have produced an almost universal bankruptcy 
among our insurance offices and merchants. The plunder of 
our ships and cargoes, and the captivity of our seamen, would 
have augmented the resources of the belligerents, and enfeebled 
ourselves. The only real question was, whether our vessels 
should remain at our wdiarves, the property of our merchants, or 
be carried to France and England, the prey of privateers. But 
for the embargo, there would have been such a calamitous scene 
produced as has rarely occurred in any nation. We should have 
suff"ered all the worst consequences of war, without any of its com- 
pensatory advantages. Our merchants would have once more 
made the " welkin ring" with their complaints of injury — their 
eloquent appeals to the law of nations — their clamours for redress 
—-their reproaches of the government for its supineness — and 



13U ipOLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH, [chap. 24. 

their solemn* pledges of support. We should have again had 
to negociate in vain for reparation. And we should have been 
ultimately goaded into war, after having been defeated in our 
endeavours to escape it, and deprived of the most efficient means 
for its prosecution. 

It has been said that the Berlin decree not having been car- 
ried into operation against American vessels ; and our govern- 
ment not having received an authentic copy of the orders in 
council ; therefore it was not justified in the recommendation of 
the embargo. And thus that degree of vigilance and care of the 
interests of his country and of the property of the merchaiJts, 
which entitled Mr. Jefferson to a monument from the mercan- 
tile interest, has been made the ground-work of the most serious 
accusation ! 

There is no measure of the general govermricnt from its first 
organization to the present hour, more strcmgly marked with 
wisdom, with foresight, and with attention to duty, than this re- 
commendation. There is, nevertheless, no measure that has gen- 
erated more factious or senseless clamour — more envenomed, 
prejudice — more unblushing misrepresentation. 

The atrocious case of the Horizon, which was the first in- 
stance wherein the Berlin decree was carried into efl'ect against 
American vessels, had previously occuned. Of this case Mr. 
Armstrong had transmitted an account in a letter dated Nov. 
12, 1807, of which I have submitted a copy to the reader.f 
This letter and the documents accompanying it, established, be- 
yond a possibility of doubt, the extreme danger of our commerce 
from French depredation, and French courts of admiralty. 

Of the determination of the British government to meet the 
Berlin decree with measures of equal violence, undoubted inform- 
ation had been received by our administration in private letters, 
and even in the public papers. The recommendation of the em- 
bargo took place on the 18th of December, 1807: and on the 
7)wrnhiif of that daij^ previous to tlie delivery of the presidents 
viessu(^x\ there had been published in the National Intelligencer 
the folbxving paragraph from a London paper. 

London, JVoveinber 10. 
" A proclamation is now, we understand, in readiness for his majesty's signa- 
ture, declaring France and the whole of her vassal kingdoms in a state of siege, 
and f)rri/ii/)ilhiif allintercnirse luith her or them — and all eiitravce of vessels into her 
or Ihrir har/>oi,r.i, EXCKPI" OF SUCH AS HAVE CLEARED LAST FROM A 
BRi'l'lSH POUT, EITHER HOME OR FOliElGN." 

Various private letters to the same effect, had been received 
by different citizens. Thus, between the two nations, our com- 
merce was completely cut up by the roots. The only part of 

• T had written " hollow and deceptions." Rut I struck the words out — how 
properly the reader will decide. 1 am doubtful myself of the correctness of 
the alteration. 

t See page 117. 



CHAP. 24] e:mbargo. 131 

Europe, except her own dominions and dependencies, with 
which Great Britain allowed us to trade, was Sweden. And the 
Milan decree, by an extravagance of despotism, folly, and wick- 
edness, never exceeded in the annals of piracy and rapine, re- 
garded every neutral vessel, that had been searched by a British 
cruiser, as ipso facto denationalised^ and liable to capture, bound 
whence or where she might The mind is lost in astonishment 
at this ne phis ultra of wickedness, madness, and rapine. It was 
punishing as criminal, an act perfectly innocent — wholly unavoid- 
able — and in which the party punished had been merely passive ! 

Under these circumstances, what prudent merchant would 
send a vessel to sea — liable to capture Avhatever might be her 
destination ? For even if bound to Sweden, or any other comer 
of Europe, (if any such there were) not embraced in the scope 
of decrees and orders in council, she might be searched by an 
English privateer, and thus be subject to capture by the next 
French one that should overhaul her. 

What course had a government to steer, which, bound to 
watch over the interests of its constituents, w'as sincerely dis- 
posed to perform that duty faithfully ? Let any man not tram- 
melled by faction or inveterate prejudice, calmlv consider this 
question, and I feel most perfectly satisfied, he will reply — the 
alternative was, war against both nations — or a general embargo. 

Notwithstanding this plain state of the case — notwithstanding 
the imperious necessity of the measure — there was, as I have 
stated, no act of the federal government, since its first organiza- 
tion, that excited so much outcry or clamour. It was the sub- 
ject of incessant abuse in all the federal papers from New-Hamp- 
shire to Georgia, and from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. It 
has been ten thousand times reiterated, that it was unnecessarily 
oppressive — that it was wicked and tj'rannical — dictated by Na- 
poleon — a sacrifice of the dearest interests of the nation — and, to 
cap the climax, unconstitutional. 

In times of faction, the public possesses a wonderful faculty 
of swallowing the most monstrous and improbable falsehoods. It 
was almost universally believed to the eastward, that the em. 
bargo was the result of a combination hetxveen the Southern and 
Western States^ to ruin the Eastern ! ! I I have repeatedly heard 
this asserted by men otherwise of sound minds and cultivated 
understandings, and whose veracity convinced me that they did 
not attempt deception, but were themselves deceived. This ex- 
travagJJnt idea proceeds upon the miserable and fatuitous suppo- 
sition, that the merchant, whose vessels remain unemployed at 
the wharves, will in consequence be ruined ; but that the agri- 
culturist, whose wheat, flour, rice, cotton, naval stores, &c. stag- 
nate on his hands, will thereby suffer no injury^ or rather derive 
advantage, although they fall 'in value 30, 40, 50, or 60 per cent, 
'Tis passing strange ! 



132 POLITIOAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 24. 

Never was there a more factious or unfounded clamour excit- 
ed. Never, I repeat, was a publit measure more loudly called 
for by existinij circumstances, never one better timed, and never 
one that would have produced more salutary consequences, had 
not f;iction deprived it of its clHcacy. 

With the knowledge Mr. Jefferson possessed, of the mighty 
dangers impendmg over our commerce, he would have justly me- 
rited impeachment for a dereliction of his duty, had he not re- 
commended an embargo for its protection. 

INIr. Pickering was the earliest, most ardent, and most zeal- 
ous opponent of the embargo. After having in vain exerted 
himself in the senate to prevent its passing, he laboured, and un- 
fortuniitelv with too much success, to excite a strenuous and se- 
tlitious opposition to it in his own state, and in the other Eastern 
States. He wrote a long, elaborate, and impassioned letter against 
it to the governor of Massachusetts, in which he endeavoured 
to pro\'e the measure wholly unnecessary — dictated by France — 
and adopted purely through hostility to England, who, he un- 
qualifiedly asserted, " had done our conrmerce no essential in- 

ji»*T-'' 

'f o form a correct idea of the embargo, it must be considered 

in two points of view, wholly distinct — one, its original enaction 
— the other, its long duration. The latter may have been, and 
I believe was, an error. But I should not hesitate at this mo- 
ment, to submit the decision of the question to governor Strong, 
Kut'us King, George Cabot, or James Lloyd, jun. whether an 
embargo was not an indjspensible measure, at a period when all 
Europe, except Sweden, was declared in a state of blockade? 

The embargo was laid on the 23d of December, 1807. Mr. 
Pickering's letter Avas dated Feb. 16, ! 808, Avhen it hadnot been 
two months in operation ; of course its denunciations must have 
been levelled against the enaction of the law — and had no re- 
ference whatever to its duration. 

To enable the reader to form a correct estimate of the sound, 
ncss of Mr. Pickering's denunciation of this measure, let it be 
observed, that at the date of his letter, full and authentic infor- 
mu/ion tuul arrived in this conntrij^ of the enforcement of the Ber- 
lin decree^ of the enaction of the orders in council, and of the 
Milan decree. 

I deem it therefore highly proper to place IMr. Pickering's 
deehu-ations in contrast with each other — and likewise with the 
real state of affairs. The reader will then be enabled to decide 
the question correctly himself. 

Let me explain the four succeeding columns. The first con- 
tains a sketch of the British depredations on American com- 
merce, as stated in the mercantile memorials of 1805-6 — the se- 
cond Mr. Baring's view of the effects of the orders in council 
—the third, the resoUuion of the Senate, Feb. 10, 1806, on which 



CHAP. 25.] BRITISH DEPREDATIONS. l^S 

Mr. Pickering voted i?i the affirmative — ajid the fourth^ Mr> 
Fickering's vindication of England^ Feb. 16, 1808. 

The three first paragraphs of the first column are from the Bos- 
ton Memorial, signed by James Lloyd, George Cabot, 8ic. These 
g-ntlcmen are responsible for the truth or falsehood of the alle- 
gations, in which the British government is almost in terms 
charged with absolute piracy : for, according to these gentlemen, 
it was '•'■ preying upon the unprotected property of a friendhj 
poxver^'' which is but a mild form of expression for piracy. 

1805—6. 1808. Mr. Picker- Mr. Picker- 
MEMORIALS. MR. BARING. ing, Feb. ing, Feb. 
10, 1806. 16, 1808. 

"WE confine ■ourselves "Ml trade direct iy from _ 

to the more alarming, be- America to every port ami " The cap- " Tliese 

cause more exlendve deten- country at war -mth Great ture and con- facts demon- 
tions and condemnations of Britain, or from -which the dcmnation stratc, thatal- 
Jimerican vessels by Great British f/asi- is excluded, is under orders tliough Eng- 
Uritain."* _ totally prohibited. /« //«s of the British land with her 

"New vessels, o\\t\\e\Y general prohibition, every government, thousand 
first passage from the Uni- part of Europe ivith the ex- andadjudica- ships of war, 
ted States to Europe, are ception of Sweden, is inch/.- tions of their could have 
arrested, carried out of ded .■ and no f/Zstoirt/on courts of ad- destroyed 
theircourse,andinjurious- Wia/erer is made bet\ifeen mivAty, of A- ouv com- 
!y detained under the vex- <Ae domestic produce o/' merican ves- merce SHE 
atious pretence of a con- America, and that of the sels and their HAS REAL- 
tinuity of voyage from the co/o?j«>s, re-exported from cargoes, on LY DONE 
country or colony of a bel- i(/i«?ce."* the pretext IT NO ES- 

rigerent."* "It would probably be oftheirbei7ig SENTlAL 

" It cannot become the no exaggeration to' say employed in INJURY."* 

magnanimity ofa great and that uptvards of three a trade with 

powerful nation, to prey fourths of aU the merchants, t\\e enemies * I.etter 

upon the unprotected pro- seamen, &c. engaged m of Great Bri- from the hon. 
perty of a friendly power."* commerce or navigation m tain, prohi- Timothy 

" Having totally sup- America, ttave, at sometime bited in time Pickei-ing, 
pressed the external com- or other, suffered from acts of peace, is senator from 
merce of her enemies, of our cruizers, which to an unprovok- the state of 
Great Britain is novj conn- i\\einhii.ve appeared wn- ed aggression Ma^ss. to his 
selled to appropriate to her- just, andwhich frequently upon the pro- excellency 
self that of her fricnds."-f mu.st have been so. They perty of the James Sulli- 

" This novel principle read, it is true, of the power citizens of the van, govern- 
goesto nothing short of the of France.— BUT THEY United States or of the said 
destruction of neutral com- FEEL EVERY DAY — a violation state dated 
merce.":\: THAT OF BRITAIN."! <if their neu- Feljruary 16 

" Every sail is stretched " By attempting to con- tral rights— 1808, page 
to collect the unwary Ameri- fu\e\\\e^YMVo\>ean\\-aAe of and an ew- 11. 
cans,who are unsuspecting- America to Great Britain, cioachmmt 
ly confdiiig in what was hy i\ie a\o\ya\ of an \\\\.en- upon their na- 
ihe law of nations."^ ti'on to tax that trade on its tional inde- 

♦' Our vessels and ef- passage to the continent, pendence."* 

fects, to a large amount, we are returning to those 

have lately been captured principle.^, to which, even as * Resohi- 
by her commissioned crui- « colo?iy, she xvuuld not sub- tion agreed 
zers, upon t!ie foundation mit. It is immaterial, wheth- to by the se- 

: — nate of the U. 

* Boston memorial. * Baring's Examination, States— Feb. 

f New York memorial. page"l2. 10, 1806. See 

% Philadelphia memorial, f Idem, page 74, pas-e 106- 

O. B, 19 



134 POUTICAL OLIVE BKANXH [c«ap. 24 

of new principles, sud- er it be a tax on stamps, or 
denlv invented."t on cotton 'I'liis question 

"'i'lie revivalofhcrdis- has been ulrcady the sub- 
cardcd rule was character- jcct of a loiiic und bloody 
ized ivitn such circiimstan- war ; and it can hardly be 
CCS of hiii/tiiti/ and violence supposi:d that Amencu 
asratherto heighten by the will now submit to a di- 
contrast the veneration of rect attack on her sover- 
niankind for tiie past jus- eign and independent 
tice of iier tribunals.'"* rights."" 



f Baltimore memorial. * Baring's Examination, 

page 76. 

It is not for me, to reconcile Mr. Pickering's sentiments* to 
each other — nor to the tenor of the Memorials — nor to Mr. Bar- 
ing's correct view of the orders in council. Let it be observed, 
let it never be forgotten, that the " unprovoked aggression" of 
1306, remained unredressed at the date of the letter to governor 
Sullivan, February 1808. And, further, to this ^"^ nnpro'ookcd 
aggression'''' of 1806, the orders in council had been added in 
1807, which more than quintupled the original outrage. But 
even independent of this extravagant addition, it is out of my 
power, bv all the rules of logic at my command, to satisfy my 
mind how '•^ the capture and conde^nnation of our vessels'''' — under 
false '■'■pretexts^'' and, as appears by the memorials of the mer- 
chants, to a most enormous amoimt — " the unprovoked aggression 
vpon the property of our citizens'''' — " the violatioji of our neutral 
rights'''' — and " the encroachment upon our national independence'''' 
can be made to accord with the broad, the sweeping, the un- 
qualified assertion that Great Britain has " really do7ie our cojh- 
vierce no essential injurij.'''' 

To be serious. The subject requires seriousness and sobrie- 
ty. Is not this a most astonishing and never-enough-to-be-la- 
mented instance of the horrible delusion in which strong party 
passions involve those who submit to their guidance ? Can light 
and darkness — vice and virtue — seraphs and demons — be more 
opposite to each other thati these assertions ? Would it not have 
been a most awftil inconsistency had they both been cotempora- 
ncous — or had the state of affairs, at the period of making the 
second, been exactly what it was at the period of making the first? 
Bat nliat an immense aggravation does this inconsistency re- 
ceive from the consideration, that in Feb. 1808, the first griev- 

• Some of the friends of Mr. Pickering, in order to destroy the efTect of the 
inconsisteiiry of these sontlmcnls, have asserted, that he did not make tlie de- 
claration that " England liad done our commerce no essential injury." 1 dare 
^Ir. Pickering thus publicly and explicitly in the face of this nation to deny it 
himself 1 pledge rnysclf to prove it incontrovertibly. But he never will dare a 
denial. His letter, from which the extract has been made, containing this highly 
erroneous declaration, is in the Boston Centincl, edited bv Benjamin Russel, 
for March 12, 1808, and in the C;azette of the United Slates, edited by Enos 
Bronson, for the 14th of said month and year. 



CHAP. 24] ORDER IN COUNCIL. 135 

ances had been unredressed, and others, as I have stated, incom- 
parably more mtolerable, been added? Ihe orders in council 
were, in outrage, injustice, and infraction of our rights of sov- 
ereignty, as far beyond the enforcement ol the rule of 1756, 
which was the ground of complaint in 1806, as wanton murder 
is beyond mere assault and battery. 

Never was I more deceived in my life, than I am at this mo- 
nient, if every candid, unbiassed reader do not agree with me, 
that the opposition to the operation of the embargo, was factious, 
disorganizing, absurd, and impolitic in the extreme ; and that 
those who rendered the law nugatory and unavailing have a high 
crime to answer for to their injured country. 

To avoid the pressure of the embargo, and to hold out induce- 
ments to our citizens to violate it, and to despatch their vessels 
clandestinely, the following most extraordinary order in council 
was published by the British government. 

George R. 
Instructions to the commanders of our ships of war and priva- 
teers. Given at our court at Windsor^ the 11th day of April^ 
1808, in the 48th year of our reign. 

Our will and pleasure is, that you do not interrupt any neutral vessel laden 
with lumber and provisions, and going' to any of our colonies, islands, or settle- 
ments in the West Indies, or Soutli America, to ivhomsuever the property may 
appear to belong, and noticithstanding such vessel may not have regular clearances 
and documents on board ! ! ! And in case any vessel shall be met with, and being 
on her due course to the alleged port of destination, an endorsement sliall be 
made on one or* more of the principal papers of such vessel, specifying tlie des- 
tination alleged, and the place where the vessel was so visited. And in case any 
vessel so laden sh;dl arrive and deliver her cargo at any of our colonies, islands, 
or settlements aforesaid, sucli vessel shall be permitted to receive her freight, 
and to depai-t, either in ballast, or with any goods that may be legally exported 
in such vessel, and to proceed to any unblocicaded port ; notwithstanding the 
present hostilities, or any future hostilities which may take place. And a pass- 
port for siich vessels may be granted by the governor, or other person, having the 
cMef civil command of such colony, island, or settlement .' 

G. R. 

This astonishing document demands the most particular and 
pointed attention. — The ministers who prostituted the name of 
their sovereign by subscribing it to such an instrument, merit, 
and must receive the reprobation of every highminded English- 
man, who feels for the honour or dignity of his native country. 
The world has never seen such another instrument. And I hope 
there never will be a second instance of the kind. This order 
alone was adequate cause of war. This at least is certain, that 
many wars have been declared upon infinitely less provocation. 
What ! one of the most potent monarchs in the world, rather than 
do justice to an unoffending nation, on which for fourteen years, 
his ministers had perpetrated the most flagrant outrages, invites, 
and tempts, and affords facilities to its citizens, to violate the 
laws of their country, and openly pursue the infamous trade of 
smuggling! 



136 



POLITICAL OLIV'E BRANCH. [chap. 25. 



- The subject affords an ample field for, and invites to, copious 
comments. But I lorlxar. I leave it to the calm consideration 
of the candid reader, whether Englishman or American. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Enquinj into the ConstmtionaUtij of the Act for enforcing the 

Embargo. Compared with acts passed during the presidencij 

of gen. IVashington and John Adams. 

The original embargo act had been openly and flagrantly vio- 
lated, I'he public prints in Boston had audaciously and sedi- 
tiously invited the citizens to set it at defiance. The British 
govci'nnK nt hud alao, as we have seen, added the allurement of 
its powerful invitation. Such an invitation was unnecessary. 
There are ahva\s to be found in every community, men who will 
seek the shortest road to fortune, whether through the dark paths 
of smuggling, or otherwise. These men united their obstreper- 
ous bruwlings, with the clamour raised by those whose grand ob- 
ject was to harass the government, for the chance of regaining 
the power they had lost. Thus the odium deserved by the 
crime of smuggling, was transferred to an act calculated to pre- 
serve the property of the merchants from belligerent depreda- 
tion; an act, be it never forgotten, which was the mildest mode 
of procuring that redress for which the mercantile part of the 
community had so loudly clamoured — and in the pursuit of 
which, they had so solemnly pledged themselves to support the 
government ! ! ! 

To prevent these evasions, an act was passed to enforce the 
embargo. 'Ibis was necessaril)- more strict and severe in its 
provisions than the original act. Meetings were held in various 
parts of the United States, denouncing the latter as oppressive 
and unconstitutional. A very numerous and respectable one 
was held in the city of Philadelphia, attended by a large propor- 
tion of the merchants, and a great number of other citizens. Of 
this meeting Commodore Truxton was chairman. Sundr)^ re- 
solutions Were passed, which embraced the essence of all the ob- 
jecti(jns raised against it throughout the union. I shall assume 
these resolutions as a text to reason upon, and shall endeavour 
to re iute the ol)jections. 

During tiic administration ofGenei-al Washington, an embar- 
go act had been passed by Congress. And during his admin- 
istratii«i, and that of Mr. Adams, various other acts had been 
passed, embracing prohil)itory and penal clauses, of a tenor simi- 
lar to those of the embargo law. No federalist will pretend that 
anv of those acts were unconstitutional. Some of their clauses 
wer? far more exceptionable than those of Mr. Jefferson's em- 
bargo act. If, therefore, the latter contain no provision what- 
ever, which is not substantially to be found in those passed dur- 



OHAP. 25.] 



EMBARGO. 137 



ing the administration of the two first presidents, I presume 
that there is not a candid federahst in the union who will hesi- 
tate to admit, that the clamour against the former, as unconsti- 
tutional, was truly " factious, disorganizing, seditious, and Jaco- 
binical." 

The 9th, 10th and 11th sections were the most rigorous, the 
most obnoxious ; and, of course, were selected by the Philadel- 
phia meeting, as proper subjects for denunciation. I shall there- 
fore fairly collate them with the corresponding sections of the 
former embargo and other acts, passed during the reign of fede- 
ralism, to enable the reader to form his opinion : 

Proceedings of a meetijig of the Citizens of Philadelphia, Commodore Triactim in 

the Chair. 
« Resolved, That we consider the late act of Congress, commonly called "The 
enforcing law," to be a direct invasion of the established principles of civil li- 
berty, and of tlie express provisions of the constitution ; as arbitrary and severe 
to a degree unnecessary, even to accomplish the objects for which the law is 
professed to have been enacted ; as creating an enormous and dangerous aug- 
mentation of executive influence and power ; and as unnecessarily exposing 
the citizens to the miseries of civil discord and military execution. 

" Resolved, That the 9th section of this act, which authorises a ministerial 
officer, without j!)roce.9s of law, to seize goods at his discretion, under a pre- 
tence that he believes they are intended for exportation, or apparently on the 
way for the territories of a foreign power, is, in our opinion, a breach of the 
fourth article of the amendments to the constitution, which provides "that the 
right of the people to be seciu-e in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, 
against unreasonable searciies and seizures, shall not be violated :" and of the 
fifth article of the amendments, which declares, " that no man shall be deprived 
of life, hberty or property, but by due process of law." 

♦ENFORCING LAW.' PRECEDENTS 

Signed by Jeffeuson. Signed by Washington and Apams. 

1. ' That the collectors of 1. ' That every collector, naval officer, and suf- 

all the districts of the United veyor, or other person espedalltj appointed by either 

States, shall be, and they o/^/iem for that purpose, shall have full power and 

are hereby authorised, to authority to e?;to- Am/ s/m^ or resseZ, in wluch they 

take into their custody specie, shall have reason to suspect any goods, wares or 

or any articles of domestic merchandise subject to duty, shall'be concealed, 

growth, produce or manu- and therein to search for, seize, and secure any 

facture, fomid on board of such goods, wares, and merchandise,' he — See 

any ship or vessel, boat, or act of 31st July, 1789, section 24. Act of 4th 

ether ~.vater craft, when there August, 1790, section 48. 

is reason to believe that they ' That it shall be the duty of the several offi- 

are intended for exportation : cers of the customs to make seizure of and secure 

2. ' Or when in vessels, any ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise 
carts, wagons, sleighs, or which shall be liable to seizure by virtue of this 
any other carriage ; or in act, as well without, as within their respective dis- 
any manner appareyitly- on tricts' — See section 26 and 50 of the same act. — 
their way towards the terri- See also, act of the 2d March, 1799, sect. 68, 70. 
tory of a foreign nation, or ' That it shall be lawful for any officer of the 
the vicinity thereof, or to- revenue, to go on board of any ship or vessel^ 
wards a place where such whether she shall be within or without his dis- 
articles are intended to be trict ; and the same to inspect, search, and exa- 
exported : mine ; and if it shall appear, that any breach of 

3. 'And not to permit the lavt^s of the United States has been committed, 
such articles to be removed, he. to make seizure of the same.' — See act of 
until, bond with sufficient 18th February, 1793, section 27. 

sureties shall have been gi- ' That any of the aforesaid articles (arms and 

ven for the landing, or the ammunition) excepting such of tUera as may coji- 



13« 



POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. 



[chap. 25. 



delivei-y of the same in 
stime place of the United 
States, where, in tJie opinion 
of tlie collector, there shall 
not be any danger of such 
articles being exported.' — 
Laws United SUtcs, vol. IX. 
page 192, section 9, of the 
actto enforce the embai'go.* 



stitute a part of the equipment of any vessel, 
which, during the continuanca of this prohibition, 
shall be found on board of any vessel in any ri- 
ver, port, bay, or harbour, within the territories 
of the United States, -.vith an intent to be exported 
from the United States to any foreign country, 
shall be forfeited,' &c. — See act of 22d May, 
1794, section 2. 

'That all goods, wares, andmerchandise brought 
into the United States by Umd, contraiy to this 
act, shall be forfeited, together w ith the carriages, 
horses, and oxen, that shall be employed in cann- 
ing the same ; provided that nothing herein shall 
be construed to extend to household furniture 
and clothing, belonging to any person or persons, 
actually coming into any part of the United 
States, for the purpose of becommg an inhabi- 
tant, or inhabitants thereof — See act of 4tii of 
August, 1790, section 70. 

* Tliat it shall be lawful for the President of the 
United States, to give instructions to the com- 
manders of the pubhc armed ships of the United 
States, to stop and examine any sliip or vessel of 
the United States on the high seas, which there 
may be reason to suspect to be engaged in any 
traffic, or commerce contrary to the true tenor 
hereof,' &c.— Act of 9lh February, 1799, sec» 
tion 5. 

Commodore TruxtuvLS Third Resolution, 

" Resolved, That the tenth section is contrary to the spirit of the constitution, 
inasmuch as it invests in the president a legislative authority by giving to his 
insti-uctions, in certain cases, the force of law." 



'EM FORCING LAW.* 

' The powers given to the 
collectors, either by this or 
any other act, respecting 
tiie embargo, to refuse per- 
mission to put any cargo on 
board any vessel, boat or 
other water craft; to detain 
any vessel, or to take into 
their custody any articles 
for the purpose of prevent- 
ing violations of the embar- 
g[o, shall be exercised in con- 
formity luith such instruc- 
tions, us the Jrresidenl may 
give, and such general rules 
as he may prescribe for that 

purpose, MAITE IN PURSUANCE 
OF THE POWERS AFORESAID ; 

which instructions and ge- 
neral rules, tlie collectors 
shall be bound to obey.' — 
Idemj section 10. 



PRECEDENTS, 

TJnder Washington and Jldams. 
'That tlie President of the United States be, 
and he hereby is authorised and empowered, 
wfienever in his opiiiion the public safety shall so re~ 
quire, TO L.\Y AN EMBARGO on all ships and 
vessels in the ports of the United States, or tlie 
ships and vessels of any foreign nations, under such 
regulations as the circumstances of the case may 
require ; and to continue or revoke the same, 
whenever he shall tliink proper. And the pre- 
sident IS HEREBY FULLY AUTHORISED TO GIVE ALI. 
SUCH ORDERS TO THE OFFICERS OF THE UNITED 
STATES AS MAY BE NECESSARY _0 CARRY THE SAME 

INTO FULL EFFECT.' — See act of 4th June, 1794, 
section 1'. 

' That an embargo be laid on all ships and ves- 
sels in tlie ports of the United States, whether 
already cleared out or not, bound to any foreign 
port or place, except ships or vessels under the 
immediate direction of the president of the Uni- 
ted States. And that the president op thb 

UNITED STATES BE AUTHORISED TO RIVE SUCH IN- 
STRUCTIONS TO THE REVENUE OFFICERS OF THE 
UNITED STATES, AS SHALE APPEAR BEST ADAPTED 
FOR C.4.HRYING THE SAID RESOLUTION INTO FULL EF- 

rECT,' Resolve of tlie twenty -sixth of March, 1792. 



CHAP. 25,] EMBARGO. 139 

♦ That the president of the United States be, 
and he is hereby authorised, to direct the revenue 
officers, and the officers commanding' forts and re- 
Temie cutters, to aid in the .execution of the health 
2a-vs of the states, respectively, in s^ach manner as 
may appear to him necessary' ' Act of the twenty- 
seventh of May, 1796. 

'That it shall be lawful for the president of the ' 
United States, if he shall deem it expedient and 
consistent with the interest of the United States, 
by his order; to remit and discontinue, for the 
time being, the restraints and prohibitions afore- 
said, either \vith respect to tlie French Republic, 
, or to any island, &c. with which a commercial in- 

tercourse may be safely renew'ed ; and also to re- 
voke mch orders, w-henever, in Ms opinion, the in- 
terest of the United States shall so require.' Act 
of the ninth of February, 1799, section 4. 

' That it shall be lawful for the president of 
the United States at any time during the continu- 
ance of this act, to order all such aliens, as he 
shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of 
the United States, or shall have reasonable ground 
to suspect, as concerned in any treasonable or se- 
cret machinations against the government there- 
of, to depart out of the teiTitories of the United 
States, within such times as shall be expressed in 
such order.' Act of the twenty-fifih of June, 
1798, section 1. 

' And all marshals and other officers of the 
United States, are required to execute all pre- 
cepts and orders of the president of the United 
States, issued in pursuance or by virtue of this 
act. ' Idem, section 4. 

Commodore Truxtuii' s fourth resohitioji. 
" Resolved, That the eleventli section of the act violates a political and ci%'il 
right, more sacred than any constitution, in authorising the military to fire upon 
the people, without the sanction or interposition of the civil authority. The 
principle contained in this section, ifmucli further extended, might wi»h com- 
petent force, convert our government into an absolute despotism." 

«ENFORC[NG LAW.' PRECEDENTS, 

*It shall be lawful for the Under fVashington and Adams. 
president of the United ' In every case arising under this act, it shall 
States, or such other person be lawfid for the president of the United States, 
as he shall have empoxvered or such other person as he shall have empowered for 
for that purpose, to employ i/m^/i^r/iosp, to employ such part of the land or 
such part of the land or na- naval forces of the United States, or of the militia 
val forces, or militia of the thereof, as shall Oe judged necessary, for the pur- 
United States, or of the ter- pose of takiiig possession of and detaining any such 
ritories thereof, as may be ship, or vessel, with her prize, or prizes, if any, 
judged necessary, in confor- in order to the execution of the penalties of tliis 
mity witli the provisions of act and to the restoring of such prize or prizes, 
this and other acts respect- in the cases in wliich restoration shall have been 
ing the embargo, for the adjudged ; and also for the purpose of pr executing 
purpose of prez'enting the il- the carrying on of any such expedition or enterprise 
legal departure of any ship or from the territories of the United States, against 
vessel, or of detaining, ta- the territories, or dominions of a foreign prince, 
king possession of, and keep- or state, with whom the United States are at 
ing in custody and guarding peace.' Act of the fifth of June, 1794, section 7. 
any specie or article of do- ' That whenever the laws of the United States 
mestic growth, produce, or shall be opposed, or the execution thereof ob- 



UO POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. chap. 25.] 

manufacture ; and also, for structed in any state, by combinations too power- 
tlie purpose of prcventbig ful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of 
■and suppressing uiu/ armed or judicial proceeding, or by tlie powers vested in 
Hotous assemblage n't -piivson^ the marshal by this act [the same powers in exe- 
rcsistlng the custom house o£i- cuting the laws of the United States as sheriffs 
cevs in the exercise of their possess for executing the state laws] it shaU be 
duties, or m any manner op- lawful for the president ot the United States to 
posing the execution of the call forth the mihtia of such state, or of any otiier 
laws laying an embargo, or state, or states, us may be necessary, to suppress 
otherwise violating, or as- such combinations, and to cause the laws to be 
Hsting and abetting zdola- duly executed,' &c. Act of the twenty-fourth of 
tions of the same.' Idem, May, 1792. 

section 11* ' Provided, that whenever it may be necessary 

in the judgment of the president, to use the mili- 
tary force hereby directed to be called forth, the 
president shall, forthwith, by proclamation, com- 
mand such insurgents to disperse, and retire 
peaceably to their respective abodes, witliiu a 
limited time.' Ibid, section 3. 

To the candour of the reader I freely appeal. Let him care- 
fully compare these various sections together. Let him more 
particularly observe, that by the act of June 4, 1 794, congress 
actually vested the president with the poxver of L.AYING AN 
EMBARGO, " whenever^ in his opinion., the public safety 
should require it ;" which was, so far as respects this important 
branch of legislation, an actual surrender of the legislative pozver 
into the hands of the executive magistrate — and that they likewise 
conferred on him authority " to give such orders as might be 
necessary to carry into effect.^'* the law which he had of his own 
mere ?notion., the "■ legislative power to enact.'''' When he has duly 
pondered on these circumstances — when he has fully ascertain- 
ed that Mr. Jefferson's embargo act in no instance exceeded, 
and in many fell far short of, the rigour of former laws — will 
he not be lost in amazement, how it was possible so to excite the 
public passions, respecting this necessarv measure, as to actually 
endanger the permanence of the union? for it is an indubitable 
fact that instirrection and rebellion were threatened, and very 
probably intended — and it has been repeatedly asserted, and is 
confidently believed, that the tenth congress, through apprehen- 
sion of that issue alone, repealed the embargo act. 

I have reason to believe, that the legislature of Massachusetts 
actually passed an act making the enforcement of some of the 
provisions of the embargo law criminal, and attaching to it cer- 
tain penalties. It is out of my power to procure the act, or to 
state its details. 

* The whole of this comparison of these acts, is taken from a pamphlet, pub- 
lished in Philadclpliia, in 1809, and entitled "Tlie Constitutionality of the Em- 
bargo Laws, established by Precedent" — By Alexander James Dallas, Esq. It 
ought to be stated as an awfnl fact, to shew the violence of faction, that this 
cogent pamphlet produced not the smallest effect on tlie feverish state of the 
public mind. 



CHAP. 26.] PATRIOTIC PROCEEDINGS, 141 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Patriotic Proceedings.^ 
I ANNEX a few specimens of the style and substance of the 
resolutions and legislative remarks upon the embargo — in order 
to satisfy the reader that I have not exaggerated the deplorable 
and disgraceful phrenzy of the public mind. 

Extract from the resolutions of the toivn of Gloucester, January 12th, 1809. 

" Resolved, That we will mutually watch and protect what little property we 
have still left ; that we will use all hrufal means, ' to arrest the disturbers and 
breakers of tlie peace,' or such others as may, {under pretence of authority from 
^■overnmeiit) 'go armed by nig'ht,' or utter any menaces, or threatening speeches, 
to the fear and ten-or of the good people of this town ; and that we will ever 
hold in abhorrence pimps, and spies, and night-walkers, who strive to fatten 
on the spoils of their suffering fellow citizens. 

" Resolved, That to our state government lue look for counsel, protection, and re^ 
lief, at this auful period of general calamity." 

Extract from the resolutions of the town of Bath, December27, 1808. 

" Resolved, That we have hitherto borne with silence the severe pressure 
of these ruinous laws [embargo laws ;] and although we now deem it our iluty 
to speak with Jirmness and decision our detestation of them, and the policy xvhick 
gave rise to them, we will still keep down tlie spirit of indignation which swells 
within us at the endurance of them ; and will conduct toward the national go- 
vernment and its several officers with suitable deference and moderation ; that 
we do, however, despair of obtaining any redress of these grievances, from 
that government, wliile its principal offices are filled as at present ; and that 
our only hope is, that the state governments, by their remonstrances and reso- 
lutions, may have more influence in effecting this object, than the petitions and 
memorials of individuals and towns. 

" Resolved, therefore. That a respectful address be forwarded in the name of 
the people of tliis town to the legislature of this commonwealth, stating to them 
the wrongs and grievances we already suffer, and the fearful apprehensions 
we experience, of speedily iiaving our calamity increased by the addition of 
still more restrictive and arbitrary laws ; expressing to them our approbation 
of the measures they have alreadj' adopted upon this important subject, and 
requesting them to take such other immediate steps for relieving the people, 
either by themselves alone, or in concert ivith other commercial states, as the ex= 
traordinary circumstances of our sitiiation may require." 

Extract from the memorial of the toivn of Boston to the legislature of JMassachur 

setts, January 25, 1809. 
" The inhabitants of the town of Boston, in town meeting assembled, respect- 
fully represent — That they are constrained to apply to your honourable body, 
as the immediate guardians of their rights and liberties, for yowv interposition to 
procure for them relief from the grievances which they now suffer, under the 
operation of the laws of the general government, abolishing foreign commerce, 
and subjecting the coasting trade to embarrassments which threaten its anni- 
hilation. Our hope and consolation rest with the legislature of our state, to 
■whom it is competent to devise means of relief against the tmconstilutiojial measures 
ef the general government ,- that your power is adequate to this object is evident 
from the organization of the confederacy.^* 

* The factious, and seditious, and Jacobinical proceedings in the eastern 
states in the year 1809, that shook the government to its centre, were paraded 
in many of the federal papers throughout the union with great solemnity, 
headed with the words "PATRIOTIC PROCEEDINGS," in staring capitals. 
It is truly lamentable to reflect on the extravagant lengths to which the spirit 
of party leads its followers. Never was the word " patnotic" more grossly 
misapplied. 

O. B. 20 



1:4.3 f OLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH [chap. 26-. 



F.xtmctfrom the prnceedings of the town of Topsfield, January 15, 1809. 

"Resolved, Tliatsiich has been (Hir suffering, and so gi-eat is our alarm, occa- 
sioned by the extraordinary measures lately adopted, that we shall never be con- 
tented until we are secured from a repetition of the same evils. That a bare 
repeal of the obnoxious acts oug-ht not, therefore, to satisfy a free and prudent 
people, any more than the repeal of the British stamp act sileTiced the patriots, 
of that day; that there ought to be a solemn renunciation of the right thus as- 
sumed ; and it is the opinion of this assembly, that legal and constitutional mea- 
sures should be adopted for that purpose. 

"This assembly declare it as their deliberate opinion, that there exists NO, 
CAUSE OF WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN ; that such a war would be un- 
just, unnecessary, and extremely to be deplored ; that tlie removal of the em- 
bargo will not necessarily involve us in war ; but should this be the alternative, 
it ought to be a war with France, and not with Great Britiin. 

"Inhabiting apart of the union the most engaged in foreign commerce, they 
think themselves qualified to accide upon its risks, and the nature and extent 
of the injuries to which it is exposed ; and it is their firm belief, that our com- 
merce, unrestrained by self destroying measures, miglit find tnany sources of 
profitable employment, iiitlunU intcrferinff in aiiii decree iidth those principles of 
maritime laic, w'/iic/i GREAT BRITAIN deems essential to her existence, and 
lohich in an eventfid moment like the present she -mil NEVER VIELD. 

" And this assembly cannot refrain from expressing their conviction, that 
neither the honour nor the permanent interests of the United States recjuire 
that we sliould drive Great Britain, if it were in our power, to the surrender of 
those claims so essential to her in the mig-hlij conflict in xvJuch she is at present en- 
gaged ; a co/i/lict interesting to humanity, to morals, to religion, and the last strug- 
gle of liberty.'" 

Extract from a circidar handbill, puhlisJied at JVeivbiiryport. 

"You have reposed confidence in a COWARD [Jefferson] and leaned on a 
broken staff" too long. The day of political probation is fi\st verging to a close; 
when the fate of America will be decided; and laurels, bought with the price of 
freemen's blood, will grace the brows of the Gallic tyrant. I^ct every man who 
holds the name of America dear to him, stretch out his hand, and put this ac- 
cursed thing, the EMBARGO, from him. Be resolute : act like the sons of 
liberty, of GOD, and of your country ; nerve your arms with VENGEANCE 
against the DESPOT who would wrest the inestimable gem of your indepen- 
dence from you ; and you shall be conquerors .' 

" Give ear no longer to the syren voice of democracy and Jeffersonian liberty. 
It is a cursed delusion, adopted by traitors, and recommended by sycophants. 

"Jefferson; a man, who with the DAGGER of j!^o/)jjZ«r co«/V/e»ce first gave 
the stab to your liberties." 

Extract from the proceedings of the town of .lugusta in JMcdne, Jamiary 16, 1809. 

'• The awfid crisis has arrived, when it becomes necessary for the friends of 
our independence, to make a firm and decided stand ; when it becomes all-im- 
portant to throw aside minor considerations, and unite for the common good ; 
and when a sense of common danger draws us together to meet the approach- 
ing" storm. 

" ^^■ith submission almost amounting to criminal apath)', we have silffered 
privations and restrictions never before expected of, or endured by, a free people. 
Now, tliat even the means of subsi.stence is at hazard, and the sacred asylum of 
our dwellings is no longer held inviolable ; silence woidd be crime, and resis- 
tance -would become a virtue of the first 7)uignitude .' ! ! 

" Resolved, that the restrictions and impositions on our trade and commerce.,, 
are too great and ruinous any longer to be borne ; and that the general dis- 
tress of our country demands immediate relief." 

" We know if the embargo be not removed, our citizens will ere long set its 
penalties and restrictions at defiance. It behoves us to speak ; for strike we 
must, if speaking does not answer." Boston Repertoru. 

" It is better to suffer tlic AjMFUTATION of a Limb, than to lose tlfe 
AVIIOLE BODV. We must prepare for the operation. Wherefore then is AVt;' 



CHAP. 27.] HENRY'S MISSION. X43 

EnglaTid Asleep ' wherefore does she SUBMIT to the oppression of enemies in 
the South ? Have we no jMoses, who ib inspired by the God of our lathers, and 
ivilUeud tts out of Egypt ?" Buston Gazette. 

" This perpetual embargo being unconstitutional, every man w ill perceive 
that he is not bound to regard it, but may send his jjroduce or merchandise to a 
foreign market in the same manner us if the government had never undertaken 
to prohibit it! If the petitions do wot produce a relaxation or removal of the 
embargo, the people ought to iminedialeli/ assume a higher tone. 

" The government of JIassac/iusctts has also a duty to perfoi-m. The state is 
Btill sovereign and independent." . Boston Centinel, September 10, 1808. 

Extract from the speech of Mr. HiUhonse, in the senate of the United States, on the 

bill for enforcing the embargo. 
" In my mind the present crisis excites the most serious apprehensions. A 
storm seems to be gathering which portends not a tempest on the ocean, but domes- 
tic convuhions ! However painful tiie task, a sense of duty colls upon me to 
raise my voice, and use my utmost exei-tions to prevent the passing of this bill. 
I feel myself bound in conscience to declare, lest tJie blood of those ~.vho should 
fall in the execution of this measure may lie on my head, that I consider this to be an 
act which directs a mortal blow at the liberties of my country ; an act containing tin- 
constitutional provisions, to which I'HE PEOPLE ARE NOT BOUND TO SUB- 
MIT, and to which, in my opinion, they will not submit."* Boston Centinel, 

Jan. 12, 1809. 

This speech requires the most serious reflection. A senator 
of the United States — whose age ought to have secured him from 
the heyday of passion and violence, and taught him sc^briety and 
gravity, in his place invites and encourages his f« How citizens 
to insurrection and rebellion ! And the law to which he excites 
resistance is not so rigorous, as laws which, I believe, he had 
concurred to frame : for I am persuaded he was in congress when 
those laws to which I have referred, were passed. 

A large volume might be filled with similar " patriotic pro- 
ceedings," as they were then styled, which threatened the peace 
of the nation wnth destruction. No pains had been spared to 
fan the flame. The public mind, by incessant appeals to the 
passions, had been excited to a species of delirium and madness. 
And such was the awful and disgraceful delusion, that the suf- 
ferings of the country by the lawless proceedings of the bellige- 
rents, were unjustly ascribed to the very measures of the govern- 
ment, calcttlated to enforce redr^^ss ! Greater insanity can hardly 
be conceived. 

CHAPTER XXVIL 

yohn Henry's Mission to the Eastern States. Instructions frojn 
the Governor General of British America. 
Contemporaneously with the ''patriotic proceedings,'^ of 
which I have presented the reader with a slight sketch in the 
preceding chapter, a most extraordinary circumstance occurred 
in Canada. Sir James li. Craig, governor general of the British 
provinces in North America, employed a certain John Henry 

* For the preceding extracts I am indebted to a papiplilet, styled " Things 
;js they are," by H. Niles. 



144 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 27. 

on a mission to the Eastern States, to ascertain the views of the 
malcontents, and how far, if they obtained " a decided injluence^'' 
they would " exert that injluence to bring about a separation 
from the general union.'''' Also " how far ^ in such an cvent^ they 
xvould look to JLngland for assistance^ or be disposed to enter into 
a connection xv'ith us'''' [the people of Canada.] 

This is a most important feature in the history of our era. I 
annex the correspondence between Sir James and Mr. Henry, 
without comment. 

No. I. 

JWr, lit/land, secretary to Sir James Craig, late governor general of the British 

proxrinces in JVbrth America, to JYlr. Henry, 

[Most secret and confidential.] 

.Quebec, 26th January, 1809. 

My dear sir — The extraordinary sitiialion of things at this time in the neigh- 
bouring states has suggested to the governor in chief, the idea of employing you 
on a secret and confidential mission to Boston, provided an arrangement can be 
made to meet the important end in vievi^, without throwing an absolute obstacle 
in the way of your professional pursuits. The information and political observa- 
tions heretofore received from you were transmitted by his excellency to the secretary 
of state, who has expressed his particular approbation of them ,• and there is no 
doiibt that your able execution of such a mission as I have suggested, would give 
tjou a claim not only on the governor general, but on his majesty's ministers, which 
might eventu illy contribute to your advantage. You will have the goodness, 
therefore, to acquaint me, for his excellency's information, whether you could 
make it convenient to engage in a mission of this nature, and what pecuniary 
assistance would be requisite to enable you to undertake it without injury to 
yourself. 

At present it is necessary for me to add, that the governor would furnish you 
with a cypher for carrying on your cori-espondence ; and that in case the lead- 
ing party in any of the states wished to open a communication with tliis go- 
vernment, their views might be communicated through you. 

I am, with great truth and regard, my dear sir, your most faithful, humble 
servant, 

(Signed) HERMAN W. RYLAND. 

John Henry, Esq. 

No. II. 

Montreal, Jain/ary 31, 1809. 

I have to acknowledge the favour of your letter of the 26th inst. written by 
the desire of his excellency the governor in chief; and hasten to express, 
through you, to his excellency, my readiness to comply with his wishes. 

I need not add how very flattering it is to receive from his excellency the 
assurance of the approbation of his majesty's secretary of state for the very 
humble service that I may have rendered. 

If the nature of the services in which I am to be engaged require no other 
disbursements than for my individual expenses, I do not apprehend that these 
can exceed my private resources. 

I shall be ready to take my departure before my insti-uctions can be made 
out. 

I have the honour to be, 8tc. J, H'x. 

H. W. Ryland, Esq. Sec. &c. 

No. III. 

General Instructions from sir J. H. Craig, to Mr. Henry, 

Quebec, 6th February, 1809. , 
Sir — As you have so readily undertaken the service wliich I have suggested 
to you as being likely to be attended with much benefit to the public interests, 
1 am to request that with your earnest conveniency you will proceed to Boston, 



CHAP. 27.] HENRY'S mSSION. 145 

The principal object that I recommend to your attention, is the endeavour 
to obtain the most accurate information of the true state of affairs in that part 
of the union, which, from its wealth, the number of its inhabitants, and the 
known intelligence and ability of several of its lead ng men, must naturally 
possess a very considerable influence over, and will indeed probably lead, the 
other eastern states of America in the part they may take at this important 
crisis. 

I shall not pretend to point out to you the mode by which you will be the 
most likely to obtain this important information. Your own judgment, and the 
connections which you may have in the town, must be your guide. 

I tliink it however necessary to put you on your guard against the sangulne- 
ness of an aspiring party. The federalists, as I understand, have at all times 
discovered a leaning to this disposition ; and their being under its particular in- 
fluence at this moment, is the more to be expected, from their having no ill- 
founded ground for their hopes of being nearer the attainment of their object than 
they have been for some years past. 

In the general terms which I have made use of in describing the object 
which I recommend to your attention, it is scarcely necessary, that I should ob- 
serve, I include the state of the pubhc opinion, both with regard to their inter- 
nal politics, and to the probability of a war with England ; the comparative 
strength of the two great parties into which the countiy is divided ; and the 
views and designs of that which may ultimately prevail. 

It has been supposed that if the federalists of the eastern states should be 
successful in obtaining that decided influence, which may enable them to di- 
rect the public opinion, it is not improbable, that rather than submit to a con- 
tinuance of the difficulties and distress to which they are now subject, they will 
exert that influence to bring about a separation from the general union. The 
earliest information on this subject may be of great consequence to our gov- 
ernment ; as it may also be, that it should be informed ho-ivfar, in such an event, 
they -would look to England for assistance, or be disposed to enter into a connection 
with us. 

Although it would be highly inexpedient that you should in any manner ap- 
pear as an avowed agent ; yet if you could contrive to obtain an intimacy with 
any of the leading party, it may not be improper that you should insinuate, 
though with great caution, that if they should luish to enter into any communication 
ivith our government through me, you are authorized to receive any such, andiuill 
safely transmit it to me : and as it may not be impossible that they should require 
some document by which they may be assured, that you are really in the situ- 
ation in which you represent yourself, / enclose a credential to be produced in 
that vieiv. But I most particularly ^njoin and direct, that you do not make use 
of this paper, unless a desire to that purpose should be expressed ; and 7<??/ess 
you see good groiind for expecting that the doing so may lead to a more confidential 
communicatioii, than you can otherwise look for. 

I request to hear from you as frequently as possible : and as letters addressed 
to me might excite suspicion, it may be as well that you put them under cover 

to Mr. . And as even the addressing letters always to the same person 

might attract notice, I recommend your sometimes addressing your packets to 
the chief justice here, or occasionally, though seldom, to Mr. Kyland ; but never 
with the addition of his official description. 

I am, sii', you most obedient, humble servant, 

(Signed) J. H. CRAIG. 

John Henry, Esq. 

No. ly. 

Credential from sir Jatnes Craig to Jifr. Henry. 
(Copy.) [seal.] 

The bearer, Mr. JohnHenry, is employed by me : and full confidence may be 
placed in him for any communication which any person may wish to make to 
me on the business committed to him. In faith of which I have given him this, un.^ 
dcr my hand and seal at Quebec, tlie 6th day of February, 1809. 

(Signed) ' ' J. H. CRAIG, 



146 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cuap. ?r. 

No. V. 

To his excellency the Governor General, &c. in aiis-^er to his letter of insttmcliom. 

Montreah Fcbniary 10, 1809. 
Sir — I have the honour to acknowledg'c the receipt of your excellency's let- 
ter of instructions, the letter of credence, and tlie cypher for carrying- on my 
correspondence. 1 have bestowed much pains upon the cypher ; and am, not- 
witlistanding- this, deficient in some points which mig-ht enable me to under- 
stand it clearly. 1 liavC compared the example with my own exemphficatiou 
of the cypher, and find a difl'erence in the results; and as the present moment 
seems favourable to the interference of his majesty's g-overnment in the mea- 
sures pursued by the federal party in the northern stales, and more especially 
as the asseml)ly of Massachusetts is now in session, I think it better to set for- 
ward immediately, tlian wait for any further explanation of the means of car- 
rying on a secret correspondence ; which the frequency of sufe private convey- 
ances to Canada will render almost wholly vnmecessary. Sliould it, however, be 
necessary at any time, I take leave to sug.tfest that the index alone furnishes a 
Very safe and simple mode. In it there is a number for every letter in the al- 
phabet, and particular numbers for particular phrases ; so that when 1 do not 
find in the index the particular word I want, I can spell it with the fig'ures 
which stand opposite to the fetters. For example, if I want to say tliat "troops 
are at Albany," I find under the letter " t" that number ffteen stands for 
*' troops," and number one hundred and. twentij-five for " Albany." The inter- 
vening- words " are c[i" I supply by figures corresponding- with the letters in 
tliese words. 

I have the honour to be. Sec. J, II't. 

No. yi. 

, Burlington, Vermont, Feb. 14, 1809. 

Sir — I have remained here two days, in order fully to ascertain the prog-ress 
o{ the arrivirfemcnls heretofore made for the organization of an efficient o/jponition tn' 
the general government, as well as to become acquainted withtlie oiiinions of the 
leading people, relative to the measures of that party which has the ascenden- 
cy in the national coimciis. 

On the sul)ject of the embargo laws there seems b»it one opinion ; namely, 
that they are minecessarii, ojyprensive, and vnc'jn>itittitiona!. It must also be ob- 
served, tliat the execution of them is so invidious as to attract towards the offi- 
rers of government the enmity of the people, which is of course tran.sferable to 
tlie government itself; so that in case the state of Massachusetts slioukl 'ake 
any bold step towards resisting the execution of these la\^■s, it is hig'hly proba- 
ble that it may calculate iqjou tlie hearty co-operation of the people of Vermont, 

I learn tliat the .governor of this state is now visiting' tlie towns in the north- 
ern section of it ; and makes no secret of his determination, as commander in chief 
of the miUtia, to refn.se obedience to any command from the general government \chich 
ran tend to inten-j/pt the good understanding that prevails between the citizens of 
Vermont and his majesty's subjects in Canada. It is further intimated, that in 
csiiie of a. war, he 'ivill iise his influence to preserve the state neutral; and resist, 
with all the force he can command, any attempt to make it a party. I need 
)iot add, that if these resolutions are carried into effect, the utate of Vermont mnij 
be considered as an ally of Great Britain. 

To what extent the sentiments whicli prevail in this quarter exist in the 
neighbouring states, or even in tlie eastern' section of this state, I am notable 
to conjecture. I can only say, with certainty, that the leading men of the federal 
party act in concert ; and, therefore, infer that a common sentiment pervades 
the whole body throughout New England. 

I have seen a letter from a gentleman now at Washington, to his friend in this 
place: and as its contents may serve to throw some light on passing events 
there,! shall send either the original or a copy with this despatch. The writer 
of the letter is a man of character and veracity ; and whether competent or not 
to form correct opinions himself, is probal)ly within the reach of all the know- 
ledge that can be obtained by tlie ])arty to wjiich he belongs. It appears by his 
statement, that there is a very formidable majority in congress on the side of the 
administration ; notwithstanding- wliich, there is every reason to hope, tliat tlia 



cfeAP.27. HENRY'S MISSIOX. 147 

northern states in their distinct capacity idll unite and resist by force a tvar -with 
Great Britain. In what mode this resistance will first show itself, is probably 
not yet determined upon ; and may in some measure depend upon the reliance 
that the leading- men njay place upon assurances of support from liis majesty's 
representatives in Canada ; and as I shall be on the spot to tender this, ivhenever 
the moment arrives that it can be done ~Mth effect, there is no doubt tliat ail tlieir 
measures may be made subordinate to tlie intentions of /us m(ijesty''s government. 
Great pains are taken by the men of talents and intelligence, to confirm t/ie fears 
of the common people, as to the concuiTence of t/ie .tout hern democrats in the projects 
of France ; and every thing tends to encourage the belief, that the dissolution oft/ie 
confederacy ~mII be accelerated by that spirit -which now actuates both political 
parties. 

I am, &c. ■ A. B. 

No. VIT. 

fl iudsor, Vermont, February 19, 1809. 
Sir — My last was written at Burlmg1;on, the principal town in tlie northern 
part of the state of Vermont. I am now at the principal town in tlie easterrj 
section. 

l"he fallacy of men's opinions, when they act under the Influence of sensibi- 
lity, and are strongly excited by tliose hopes which always animate a rising- par- 
ty, leads me to doubt the correctness of the opinion which I received in tlie 
nortliern section of this state ; which, from its contiguity to Canada, and neces- 
sary intercourse witli Montreal, has a strong interest in promoting a good un- 
derstanding with his majesty's government. Tlierefore, since my dc parture from 
Burlington, I have sought every favourable occasion of conversing- with the de- 
mocrats on the probable result of the policy adopted by the general govern- 
ment. The diflerence of opinion is thus expressed. 

The federal party declare, that in the event of a war, the state of Vermont tnll 
treat separately for itself -Mth Great Britain ; and support, to the utmost, tlie 
stipulations into which it may enter, without any regard to the policy of the 
general government. The democrats on the otlier hand assert, that, in such a 
case as that contemplated, the people would nearly be divided into equal num- 
bers; one of which would support the government, if it could be done without 
involving the people in a civil war: but at all events would risk every thing 
in preference to a coalition with Great Britain. This difference of opinion is not 
to be wholly ascribed to the prejudices of party. The people in the eastern 
section of Vermont are not operated upon by the same hopes and fears as those 
on the borders of the British colony. They are not dependent upon Montreal for 
tlie sale of their produce, nor the supply of foreign commodities. Tliey are not 
apprehensive of any serious dangers or inconvenience from a state of war : and 
altliough tliey admit that the governor, council, and three-fourths of the repre- 
sentation in congress are of the federal party, yet they do not believe that tlie 
state would stand alone and resist the national government. They do not, how- 
ever, deny, that should the state of Vennont continue to be represented as it is 
at present, it would in all probaliility unite with tlic neighbouring states in any 
serious plan of resistance to a war, which it might seem expedient to adopt. 
This I think is the safer opinion for you to rely on; if, indeed, reliance ought to 
be placed on any measure depending upon the will of the rabble, wdiich is ever 
changing, and mivst ever be marked with ignorance, caprice, and inconstancy. 
As the crisis approaches, the difficulty of deciding upon an hazardous alterna- 
tive will increase. And unfortunately there is not in Vermont any man of com- 
manding talents, capable of attracting general confidence ,- of inliislng into the 
people his own spirit ; and, amidst the confusion "of conflicting opinions, dan- 
gers and conimotion, competent to lead in tlie path of duty or safety. The go- 
vernor is an industrious, prudent man, and has more personal influence than 
any otlier. But his abilities are not suited to the situation in which a civil war 
would place him. 

I am, &c. A. B. 

No. VIII. 
Amherst, .A'eiv Hampshire, February 23, 1809. 
Sir— A gentleman going direct to Canada, affords a safe and fiivourable op, 
portunity of giving you some further account of mv progress. I will not make 



148 POLITICAL OLIVE BRAXCII. [<5hap. 27. 

use of the post-offices, when I can avoid it; because private occasions super- 
cede tlie necessity of writing in cypher And the contempt of decency and 
principle, which forms part of the morals of the subaltern otHcers of a demo- 
cracy, would incline tliem to break a seal with the same indifl'erence that they 
break their words, wlien either curiosity or interest is to be indulged. 

I have not had sutiicicnt time nor evidence, to enable me io form any opinio7i 
for myself, of the lengths to which the federal party will carry opposition to the 
national government in the event of a war. MucJi may be inferred from the 
result of the elections of governors, which within two months will be made in 
the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Khode Island. From all I 
know, and all 1 can learn of the general government, I am not apprehensive of 
an immediate war. The eml^argo is the favourite measure. And it is probable 
that other means will be employed to excite England to commit some act of 
hostility, for the sole purpose of placing the responsibility of war on that coun- 
try. This I most particularly recommend to the consideration of ministers. The 
dread of opposition, and the loss of popularity, will certainly keep the ruling 
party at Washington inactive. They will risk any thing but the loss of power ; 
and tliey are well aware that their power would pass away with the first cala- 
mity which their measures might bring upon the common people (from whom 
that power emanates) unless indeed they could find a sufficient excuse in the 
conduct of Great Britain. This impression cannot be too deeply felt by his 
majesty's ministers ; nor too widely spread throughout the British nation. It 
will furnish a sure guide in every policy that may be adopted towards the Uni- 
ted States. 

I have the honour to be, &c. A. B. 

-So. IX. 

Boston,March 5, 1809, 

Sir — It does not yet appear necessary that I should discover to any person 
the purpose of my visit to Boston ; nor is it probable that I shall be compelled, 
for the sake of gaining more knowledge of the arrangements of the federal 
party in these states, to avow myself as a regular authorised agent of the Bri- 
tish g-overnment, even with those individuals who would feel equally bound 
with myself to preserve, witli the utmost inscrutability, so important a secret 
from the public eye. 

/ have suffcieiit means of information to enable me to judge of the proper period 
for offering the co-operation of Gi'eat Britaiit, and opening a correspondence be- 
tween the governor general of British Jlmerica and those individuals, ivho, from 
the part they take in the opposition to the national government, or the influence they 
may possess in any neiv order of things, that may grow out of the present differences, 
should be qualified to act in behalf of the northern states. An apprehension of 
any such state of things, as is presupposed by these remarks, begms to subside ; 
since it has appeared, by the conduct of the general g-overnment, that it is se- 
riously alarmed at the menacing attitude of the northern states. But although 
it is believed that there is no probability of an immediate war, yet no doubts 
are entertained that Mr. Madison will fall on some new expedients to bring 
about hostilities. What these may be, can only be deduced from what appears 
to be practicable. A non-intercourse with ling-land and France will probably su- 
percede the embargo ; which, by opening with the rest of Europe a partial le- 
gitimate commerce, and affording strong temptations to that which is illegal, 
will expose the vessels to capture, detention, and embarrassment; will justify 
the present policy ; and produce such a degree of irritation and resentment, as 
will enable the government of this country to throw the whole blame and re- 
sponsit)ility of war from its shoulders upon those of the British ministry. 
If in this, the party attaclicd to France should calculate with correctness, and 
the commerce of New England should greatly suffer; the merchants being in- 
jured and discouraged, would not only acquiesce in the restrictive system, but 
even submit to war. On the other hand, should the small traffic permitted by a 
non-intercourse law be lucrative and uninterrupted, the people would be clamo- 
rous for more, and soon compel the government to restore the friendly relations be- 
tween the two coimtries. While I offer my opinion on this subject, I cannot but 
express a strong hope, that, if any terms should be proposed by either govern- 



CHAP. 27.] HENRY'S MISSION. U9 

ment, to which the other might think proper to accede, that A PRINCIPAL 
IMOTWE TO THE ADJUSTMENT OF DIFFERENCES SHOULD BE UN- 
DERSTOOD TO ARISE FROM THE AMICABLE DISPOSITION OF THE 
EASTERN STATES, PARTICULARLY OF THE STATE OF MASSACHU. 
SETTS. THIS, AS IT WOULD INCRBASE THE POPULARITY OF THE 
FRIENDS OF GREAT BRITAIN, COULD NOT FAIL TO PROMOTE HER 
INTERESTS. If it could not be done formally and officially, nor in a correspon- 
dence between ministers, still perhaps the administration in the parliament of 
Great Britain might take that ground : and the suggestion would find its way 
into the papers both in England and America. 

It cannot be too frequently repeated, that this country can only be governed 
and directed by the influence of opinion : as there is nothing permanent in its 
political institutions ; nor are the populace, imder any circumstances, to be re- 
lied on, when measures become inconvenient and burdensome. I will soon 
write again, and am, &c. A. B. 

No.X. 

Boston, March 7, 1809. 

Sir — I have already given a decided opinion that a declaration of war is not to 
be expected ; but, contrary to all reasonable calculation, should the congress 
possess spirit and independence enough to place their popularity in jeopardy 
by so strong a measure, THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS WILL 
GIVE THE TONE TO THE NEIGHBOURING STATES; WILL DECLARE 
ITSELF PERMANENT UNTIL A NEW ELECTION OF MEMBERS ; IN- 
VITE A CONGRESS, TO BE COMPOSED OF DELEGATES FROM THE 
FEDERAL STATES, AND ERECT A SEPARATE GOVERNMENT FOR 
THEIR COMMON DEFENCE AND COMMON HTTtREST. 

This congress would probably begin by abrogating the offensive laws, and 
adopting a plan for the maintenance of the power and authority thus assumed. 
T/ieif luoidd by audi an act be in a conditioyi to make or receive proposals from Great 
Britain; and I should seize the first moment to open a correspondence with 
your excellency. Scarce any other aid would be necessary, and perhaps none 
required, than a few vessels of war from the Halifax station, to protect the ma- 
ritime towns from the little navy which is at the disposal of the national gov- 
ernment. What permanent connection between Great Britain and this section 
of the republic would grow out of a civil commotion, such as might be ex- 
pected, no person is prepared to decide. But it seems that a strict alliance 
must result of necessity. At present the opposition party confine their calcu- 
lations merely to resistance ; and I can assure you that at this moment they do 
not freely entertain the project of withdrawing the eastern states from the 
union, finding it a very unpopular topic; although a course of events, such as I 
have idready mentioned, would inevitably produce an incurable alienation of 
the New England from the southern states. The truth is, the common people 
have so long regarded the constitution of the United States with complacency, 
that they are now only disposed in this quarter to treat it like a truant mistress, 
whom they would for a time put away on a separate maintenance, but, without 
farther and greater provocation, would not absolutely repudiate. 

In all I have written, I have been careful not to make any impression anala- 
gous to the enthusiastic confidence entertained by the opposition, nor to the 
"hopes and expectations that animate the friends of an alliance between the 
northern states and Great Britain. I have abstracted myself from all the sym- 
pathies these are calculated to inspire ; because, notwithstanding that I feel 
the utmost confidence in the integrity of intention of the leading characters in 
this political drama, I cannot forget th.at they derive their power from a giddy, 
inconstant multitude ; who, unless, in the instance under consideration, they 
form an exception to all general rules and experience, will act inconsistently 
and absurdly. 

lam, &c. A. B. 

No. XL 

■ Boston, March 10, 1809. 
Sir — In my letter No. 9, I took the liberty to express jfny opinion of the 
probable effect of the non-intercourse law intended to be enacted ; and of tha 
O. B. 21 



150 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 27. 

mode by which Great Britain may defeat the real intention of the American 
government in passing- it. But as tlio sort of impunity recommended mlg-ht, in 
its application to every species of commerce that would be carrie i on, be 
deemed by Great Britiiin a greater evil than war itself, a middle course might 
easily be adopted, which would tleprive France of the benefit resulting from 
an intercourse witli America, without, in any great degree, irritating the mari- 
time states. 

The higii price of all American produce in France furnishes a temptation 
which iiuTcantile avarice will be unable to resist. The consequence is obvious. 
But if instead of condemning the vessels and cargoes wliicii may \j<- arrested in 
pursuing this jiroliibited commerce, they should be conipcllod 1f) go into a 
British port, and there permitted to sell them, 1 think the friends of England in 
these states would not utter a complaint. Indeed, I have no doubt, that if, m 
the prosecution of a lawful voyage, the British cruizers should treat American 
ships in tills man;icr, their owners woidd, in the present state of the European 
markets, tbink themselves very fortunate ; as it would save them the trouble 
and expense of landing them in a neutral port, and from thence re-shipping 
them to England, now the best market in Europe for the produce of this coun- 
try. The government of the United States would probably complain, and Bona- 
parte become peremptory ; but even that would only tend to render the op> 
position in tlie northern states more resolute, and accelerate the dissolution of 
the confederacy. The generosity and justice of Great Britain would be extoll- 
ed, and the commercial states exult in the success of individuals over a govern- 
ment inimical to commerce, and to whose measures they can no longer submit 
with patient acquiescence. A. B. 

No. XII. 

Boston, March \^, 1809. 

Sir — You will perceive, from the accounts that will reach you in the public 
papers both from Wasjiington and Massachusetts, that the federalists of the 
northern states have succeeded in making the congress believe, that with such 
an opposition as they would make to the general government, a war must be 
confined to tlieir own territory, and might be even too much for that govern- 
ment to sustain. The consequence is, that after all the parade and menaces 
with which the ses.sion commenced, it has been suflered to end without carry- 
ing into ell'ectany of the plans of the administration, except the interdiction of 
commercial intercourse with England and France — an event.that was anticipa- 
ted in my former letters. 

Under what new cii-cumstances the congress will meet in May, will depend 
on the state elections, and the changes that may in the meantime take place in 
Europe. With regard to Great Britain, she can scarce mistake her true policy 
in relation to America. If peace be the object, every act which can irritate 
the maritime states ought to be avoided ; because the prevailing disposition of 
these will g'enerally be sufficient to kee]) the government from hazarding any 
hostile measures. If a war bettucen America and France be a grand desidvratnm, 
something more must be done ; an indulgc7U conciliutory policy must be adopted, 
which will leave the democrats witliout a j)retezt for hostilities ; and Bonajiarte, 
whose passions are too hot for delay, will, probably, compel this government 
to decide which of the two great belligerents is to be its enemy. To bring 
about a .separ(itio7i r>f tbe states, imder ditilinct and indepeniknt governmevts, is an 
nffair of more uncertainty ; and, horjcver desirable, cannot be effected but by a sc- 
Ties of acts andlom^ cmtinued policy, tending to irritate the southern, and cojiciliaie 
the noi-thern fieo/jle. The former are an agricultural, the latter a commercial 
people Tlie mode of cheering and depressing either, is too ol>vious to require 
illustration. I'llis, I am av.ai'c, is an object of nnuh interest in Great Britain ; 
as it wovlil forever secure the inteq'ritt) of hfs viaieslii\s possessions on tlie continent^ 
and MAKE THE nVO tlOVEUNMEN IS, OU W HATEVEB NUMBER THE 
PRESENT CONFEDERACY MIGHT FORM INTO, AS USEFUL AND AS 
MUCH SUBJECT TO THE INFLUENCE OF GREAT BRITAIN, AS HER 
COLONIES CAN BE RENDERED. * But it is an object only to be attained by 

* This sentence speaks volumes against the policy of those mis.guided and 
dn.ngcrous citizensj who have becy so zealous for th<j destruction of the union. 



CHAP. 27.] HEXRY'S MISSIOX. ISi 

slow and circumspect progression ; and requires for its consummation more at- 
tention to the attairs which agitate and excite parties in this country, than Great 
Britain has yet bestowed upon it. An unpopular war; that is, a war produced 
by the hatre'd and prejudices of one party, but against the consent of the othcc 
party, can :ilone produce a sudden separation of any section of this country from 
the common head. 

At all events, it cannot be necessary to the preservation of peace, that Great 
Britain should make any great concessions at tiie present moment; more espe- 
cial! if as the more important changes that occur in Europe, might rejulerit inconve- 
nient for her to adhere to anij stipulations in favour of neutral maritime nations. 

Although the non-intercourse law aflords but a partial relief to the people 
of this country from the evils of that entire suspension of commerce to which 
they have reluctantly submitted for some time past, 1 lament the repeal of the 
embargo ,- because it was calculated to accelerate the p'^ogress of these states to-uiards 
a revolution that ivould have put an cm! to the only republic that remains, to prove 
that a government founded on political equalilij can exist in a season of trial and 
dijicultij, or if: calculated to insure either security or happiness to a people. 

I am, &c. A. B. 

No. XIII. 

Boston, March 20, 1S09. 

Sir — ^The last week of this month and the first of April will be occupied in the 
election of governors and other executive officers in the New Enghmd states. 

The federal cancfidate in New Hanipsliire is already elected by a majority of 
about a thousand votes. His competitor was a 7nan of large fortune, extensive 
connections, and inoffensive manners. These account for the smallness of tlie 
majoiity. 

in Connecticut, no change is necessary : and none is to be apprehended. 

In Rhode Island, it is of no consequence of what party the governor is a 
member : as he has neither civil nor military power, being merely president of 
the council. 

In Massachusetts, it is cei-tain that the federal candidate will succeed. 

A few weeks will be sufficient in order to determine the relative strength of 
parties, and convince Mr. Madison that a war with Great Britain is not a mea.. 
sure upon which he dare venture. Since the plan of an organised opposition 
to the projects of Mr. Jefferson was put into operation, the whole of the New- 
England states have transferred their political power to his pohtical enemies : 
and the reason that he has .still so many adliereuts is, that those who consider 
the only true policy of America to consist in the cultivation, of peace, have still 
great confidence, that nothing- can force him (or his successor who acts up to 
))is system, or rather is governed by it) to consent to war. They consider all 
the menaces aiul "dreadfiil note of preparation" to be a mere finesse, intended 
only to obtain concessions from England on cheap terms. From every sort of 
evidence, I confess I am myself of the same opinion ; and am fulli/ persuaded 
that the farce ivhich has been acting at tVashington -will terminate in full proof of 
the imbecility and spiritless temper of the actors. A war attempted without tiie con- 
currence of both parties, and the general consent of the northern states, which 
constitute the bone and muscle of the countrv, must commence without hope, 
and end in disgrace. IT SHOULD, THEREFORE, BE THE PECULIAR 
CARE OF GREAT BRITAIN TO FOSTER DIVISIONS BEIVVEEN THE 
NORTH AND SOUTH ; and by succeeding in this, she may carry into effect 
her oiun projects in Europe, with a total disregard of the resentment of the demo- 
crats of this country. 

I am, See A. B. 

No. XIV. 

Boston, Jpril 13, 1809. 
Sir — I send to Mr. R. a pamphlet entitled "Suppressed Documents." The 
j-iotes and comments were written by the gentleman who has written the " ana- 
lysis," which I sent by a former conveyance. These w^orks have greatly con- 
tributed to excite the fears of the men of talents and property ; who \\o-w prefer- 
the choice uf maintaining their party by open resistance and final separation, to an 
alliance wth France, and a war with England. S"o that $hould the government 



152 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 27 

unexpectedly, and contrary to all reasonable calculation, attempt to involve the 
countrv in a'measure of tliat nature, 1 am convinced (now that the elections 
have ail terminated favourably) that rione of the JVew England states toordd be a 
party in it. But, as 1 have repeatedly written, the general g-overnment does not 
seriously entert^n any such desire or intention. Had the majority in the New 
Eng-land states continued to approve of the pubhc measures, it is extremely 
probable that Great Britain would now have to choose between war and con- 
cession. But the aspect of things in this respect is changed ; and a war would 
produce an incurable alienation of the eastern states, and bring the whole coun- 
try in subordination to the interest of England, -whose navy ivould prescribe and 
enforce t/ie terms upon -which the commercial stales should carry, and the agricultu- 
ral states export, their surplus produce. All this is as well known to the demo- 
crats as to the other \ih.Tiy. Therefore they will avoid a war, at least until the 
whole nation is unanimous for it. Still, when we consider of what materials the 
government is formed, it is impossible to speak with any certainty of their mea- 
sures. The past administration in every transaction presents to the mind only 
a muddy commixture of folly, weakness, and duplicity. The spell, by which 
the nations of Europe have been rendered inert and inefficient when they at- 
tempted ta shake it ofl', has stretched its shadow across the Atlantic, and made a 
majority of the people of these states alike blind to duty and to their interests. 

I am, &c. A. B, 

No. XV. 

Boston, .Dpril 26, 1809, 

Sir — Since my letter No. 14, I have had but little to communicate. 

I have not yet been able to ascertain with sufficient accui-acy the relative 
strength of the two parties in the legislative bodies in New England. 

In all the states, however, governors have been elected out of the fedei'ai 
party ; and even the southern papers indicate an unexpected augmentation of 
federal members in the next congress. 

The cori'espondence between Erskine and the secretary of state at Wash- 
ington, you Will have seen before this can reach you. It has given much satis- 
faction to the federal party here ; because it promises an exemption from the 
evil they most feared (a war with England) and justifies their partiality towards 
Great Britain, which, they maintain, was founded upon a full conviction of her 
justice and sincere disposition to presei"ve peace. Even the democrats affect 
to be satisfied with it ; because, as they insist, it proves the efficacy of the re- 
strictive system of Mr. Jefferson. 

But the gTcat benefit that will proba1)ly result from it, will be, that Bonaparte 
maybe induced to force this country from her neutral position. Baffled in his 
attempt to exchide from this continent the manufactures of Great Britain, he 
will most likely confiscate all American property in his dominions and depen- 
dencies, and declare war. Nothing could more than tliis contribute to give in- 
fluence and stability to the British party. The invidious occurrences of the re- 
bellion -ivould be forgotten in the resentment of the people against France ; and they 
would be- soon weaned from that attachment to her which is founded on the aid 
that was rendered to separate from the mother country. 

While Great Britain waits for this natural, I might say necessary result of 
the negociation, would it not be extremely inexpedient to conclude a treaty with 
the \mcrican government ? Every sort of evidence and experience pi-ove, tliat 
tlie democrats consider their political ascendency in a great measure dependent 
upon tiie hostile spirit tliat they can keep alive towards Great Britain ; and re- 
cent events demonstrate that tlieir conduct will be predicated upon that convic- 
tion. It is therefore not to be expected that they will meet witli corresponding- 
feelings a sincere disposition on the part of England to adjust all matters in dis- 
pute. They are at heart mortified and disappointed to find, that Great Britain 
has been in advance of the French government, in taking advantage of the pro- 
visional clauses of the non-intercourse law. And if they show any spirit at the 
next session of congress towards France, it will be only because they will find 
Bonaparte deaf to intreaty, and insensible of past favours : or that they may 
think it safer to float with tlie tide of public feelings which will set strongly 
against iiim, unless he ktcp pari passu with England in a concUiatory polic}'. 



CHAP. 27.] HENRY'S MISSION, 15.; 



'o 



When I began my letter, 1 intended to make some obsenations in relation 
to the boundary line — [Here ten or twelve lines of the manuscript are erased.] 

I am, &c. A. B. 

No. XVI. 

Sosto7j, May 6, 1809. 

Sir — Although the recent changes that have occurred, quiet all apprehen- 
sions of \vai', and consequently lessen all hope of a separation of (he states, I 
think it necessary to transmit by the mail of each week a sketch of passing- 
events. 

On local politics I have nothing to add ; and as the parade that is made in the 
National InteUigencer, of the sincere disposition of Air. Madison to presen'e 
amicable relations with Great Britain, is in my opinion calculated to awaken 
vigilance and distrust rather than inspire coniidence, I shall (having nothing 
more important to write about) take leave to examine his motives. I am not 
surprised at his conditional removal of the non-intercourse law with respect to 
Great Britain, because it was made incumbent on him by the act of congress; 
but the observations made on his friendly dispositions towards Great Britain 
are a matter of no little astonishment. The whole tenor of his political life 
directly and unequivocally conti-adicts them. His speech on the British treaty 
in '95 — his attempt to pass a law for the confiscation of " British debts" and 
British property — his commercial resolutions, grounded apparently on an idea 
of making America usefid as a colony to France — his conduct while secretary 
of state — all fonn an assemblage of probabilities tending to convince me at 
least that he does not seriously desire a treaty in which the rights and preten- 
sions of Great Britain would be fairly recognized. It seems impossible that 
he should at once divest himself of his habitual animosity and that pride of 
opinion, which his present situation enables him to indulge ; but above all, that 
he should deprive his friends and supporters of tlie benefit of those prejudices 
which have been carefully fostei'ed in the minds of the common people towards 
England, and which have so materiall}' contributed to invigorate and augment 
the democratic party. Whatever his real motives may be, it is in this stage of 
the affair harmless enough to inquu'e into the cause of the apparent change. 
He pi-obably acts under a conviction, that in the present temper of the eastern 
states, a war could not fail to produce a dissolution of the union ; or he may 
have profited by the mistake of his predecessor; and is inclined to seize the 
present opportunity to prove to the world that he is determined t» be the 
president of a nation rather than the head of a faction ; or he has probably- 
gone thus far to remove the impression on the mind of many, that he was un- 
der the influence of France, in orner that he may with a better grace and on 
more tenable grounds quarrel with Great Britain in the progress of negociating 
a treaty. Whatever his motives may be, I am very certain his party will not 
support him in any manly and generous policy. Weak men are sure to tem- 
porize when great events call upon them for decision ; and are sluggish and 
inert at the moment when the worst of evils is inactivity. This is the charac- 
ter of the democrats in the northern states. Of those of the south I know but 
little, 

A.B. 

No. xvn. 

Boston, May 25, 1809. 

Sir, My last was under date of the 6th instant. 

The unexpected change wliich has taken place in the feelings of political 
men in this country, in consequence of Mr. Madison's prompt acceptance of the 
friendly prv:)posals of Great Britain, has caused a teniporaiy suspension of thes- 
conflict of parties ; and they both regard him with equal wonder and distrust. 
They all ascribe iiis conduct to various motives ; but none believe him to be in 
earnest. 

The state of New York has returned to the assembly a majority of federal 
members. All this proves that an anti-commercial faction cannot rule the cora- 
n-iercial states. Two months ago the state of New York was not ranked among- 
the states that would adopt the policy of that of Massachusetts ; and any favour- 
able change was exceedingly problematical. 



r 



154 rOUTlCAL OLITfc BRA^•CII. [chaf. 27. 

I beg leave to suggest tiiat in the present state of things in this coimtns my 
presence can contribute very little to the interest of Great Britain. If Mr. 
Erskinc be sanctioned in all he has conceded, by his majesty's ministers, it is 
unnecessar}^ for me, as indeed it would be unavaiUng, to make any attempt to 
cany into eVi'ect the original pvn-poses of my mission. While I think it to be my 
duty to give this intimation to 3 ou, 1 beg it may be understood that I consider 
myself entirely at the disposal of liis majesty's government. 

I am, he. A. C 

No. XVIII. 

Mr. Eyland to Mr. J. Heivij, May 1, 1809. 

My dear sir — The news we have received this day from the United States 
V'ill, I imagine, soon bring 3 ou back to us: and if you arrive at Montreal by the 
middle of June, 1 shall probably have the pleasure of meeting you there, as I 
am "oinirup with .sir James and a large suite. The last letters recei%-ed from 3^ou 
are to tile thirteenth of Apnl ; and the whole are now transcribing for the pur- 
pose of being sent home, where they cannot fail of doin^ yon great credit; and 
I most sincerehi hope that they may eventually contribute to your permanent advan- 
taife. It is not necessary to repeat the assurances that no effort within tlie com- 
pa.ss of my power shall be wanting to this end. 

lam cruelly out of f;pirits at the idea of old England truckling to such a debased 
and accursed srovernment as that of the United States. 

(Signed) H. W. R. 

J. Henry, Esq. Boston. 

No. XIX. 

Mr. liyland to Mr. Ilewy, dated May 4, 1809. 
Mv dear sir — -You must consider the short letter I wrote you by the last post 
as altogether unofficial : but I am now to intimate to you, in a more formal man- 
ner, our hope of your speedy return ; as the object of your journey seems, for 
the present at least, to be at an end. We have London news by way of the i-iver 
up to the si.Kth of March, which tallies to a day with what we have received by 
the way of the states. 

(Signed) H. W. R. 

No. XX, 

Montreal, Jnne\2, 1809. 

Sir — I have the hotiour to inform your excellency, that I received, througij., 
Mr. Secretary Ryland, your excellency's commands to return to Canada ; and 
after tlie delays incident to this season of the year in a journey from Boston, 
an-ived here j'esterdaN'. 

Your excellency will have seen by the papers of the latest dates from the 
United States, that a formidable opposition is already organized in congress to 
the late measures of Mr. Madison ; and it is very evident that if he be sincere 
in his professions of attacliment to Great Britain, his party will abandon him. 
Sixty one members have already voted against a resolution to approve of what 
he has done ; and I have no doubt the rest of the democratic party will follow 
the example, as soon as they recover from the astonishment into which his ap- 
parent defection has thrown them. 

The present hopes of the federalists are founded on the probability of a war 
with I' ranee ; but, at all events, this party is strong and well organized enough 
to prevent a war with Kngland. It would now be superfluous to trouble your 
excellency with an account of the nature and extent of the an-angements made 
by the federal party to resist any attempts of tlie govermnent unfavourable to Great 
Britain. They were such as do great credit to their ability and principles ; and, 
while a judicious policy is observed by Great Britain, secure her interests in 
America from decay. My fear of inducing a false security on the part of his 
majesty's goveniment, in tlieir efficiency and eventual success, may have inclin- 
edme to refrain from doing them that justice in my former letters, which I 
willingly express. 

^ (Signed) JOHN HENRY. 



CHAP. 2r.l HENRY'S mSSION. 155 

No. XXI. 

vlf)'. Henry's memonal to lord Liverpool, enclosed in a letter to J\Ir. Peel, of the loth 

of June, 1811, -idtli a copif of that letter. 
The undersig^ned most respectfully submits the Ibllowing statement and me- 
morial to the earl of Liverpool. 

Loii£^ before and during the administration of your lordship's predecessor, 
the undersig-ned bestowed much personal attention to the state of parties, and 
to die political measures in the United States of America. 
[Here is an erasure of about four lines.] 

Soon after the affair of the Chesapeake frig-ate, when his majesty's governor 
general of British America had reason to believe that the two countries would 
be involved in a war, and had submitted to his majestij\ ministers ike arrange- 
ments of the English party in the United States for an efficient resistance to the 
general government, lohith would probably terminate in a separation of the north- 
ern states from the general confederacy, he applied to the undersigned, to un- 
dertake a mission to Boston, -where, the -uhole concerns of the opposition -were 
■managed. The object of the mission was to promote and encourage the federal 
party to resist the measures of the general government ; to offer assurances of aid 
and support from his majesty's government of Canada; and to open a communi- 
cation between the leading men engaged in that opposition and the governor 
general, upon such a footing as circumstances might sugg-cst ; and finally to 
render the plans then in contemplation subservient to the views of his majes- 
ty's government.* 

The undersigned undertook the mission which lasted from the month of 
January to the month of June inclusive, during which period 

those public acts and legislative resolutions of the assem- 
blies of Massachusetts and Connecticut were passed, which kept the general 
government of the United States in check, and deterred it from carrying into 
execution the measures of hostihty with which Great Britain was menaced. 

For his sernce on the occasion herein recited, and the loss of time and ex- 
penses incurred, the undersigned neither sought nor received any compensa- 
tion ; but trusted to the known justice and liberality of his majesty's govern- 
ment for the reward of services which could not, he humbly conceives, be esti- 
mated in pounds, shillings and pence. On the patronage and support which 
v.as promised in the letter of sir J Craig under date of the twenty -third of 
January, 1809, (wherein he gives an assurance " that the former correspon- 
dence and political information transmitted by the undersigned had met with 
the particular approbation of his majesty's secretary of state, and that his exe- 
cution of the mission, proposed to be undertaken in that letter, would give him 
a claim not only on the governor general but on his majesty's ministers") the 
undersigned has relied, and now most respectfully claims, in whatever mode 
the earl of Liverpool may be pleased to adopt. 

The imdersigned most respectfully takes this occasion to state, that sir J. 
Craig promised him an employment in Canada, worth upwards of one tliousand 
pounds a year, by his letter (herewith transmitted) under date of the thirteenth 
of September, 1809, which, he has ju.st learned, has, in consequence of his ab- 
sence, been given to another person The undersigned abstains from comment- 
ing on this transaction ; and respectfully suggests that the appointment of judge 
advocate general of the province of Lower Canada, with a salary of five hun- 
dred pounds a year, or a consulate in the United States, sine ctira, would be 
considered by him a hberal discharge of any obligation that his majesty's gov- 
ernment may entertain in relation to his service. 

Copy of a letter to JMr. Peel, enclosing the foregoing. 

Sir — I take the liberty of enclosing to you a memorial addressed to the earl 
of Liverpool ; and beg you will have the goodness either to examine the docu- 
ments in your office, or those in my own possession, touching the e.xtent and 
legitimacy of my claims. 

Mr. IJyland, the secretary of sir J. Craig, is now in London ; and, from his 
official knowledge of the transactions and facts alluded to in the memorial, can 
^ive any information required on the subject J. H, 

June 13, 1811. 

* Vide the de^spatches of sir James Craig in June, 1808, 



J56 POLITICAL OUVB BIIANCH. (chap. Sf. 

No. XXII. 

Letter of the Rt. hon. the earl of Liverpool, by his secretary R. Peel, esq. re 

cognising Mr. Henry's services, &c. 

Doivning Street, June 28, 1811. 

Sir I have not failed to lay before the earl of Liverpool, the memorial, to- 
gether with its several enclosures, wliich was delivered to me a few days since, 
by general Loft, at vour desu-e. 

His lordship has directed me to acquaint you, that he has referred to the 
correspondence in this office, of the yeai- 1808, and finds two letters from sir 
James Craig, dated the tenth of April, and the fiftli of May, transmitting the 
correspondence that has passed during your residence in the northern states 
of America, and expressing his coniidence in your abiUty and judgment ; but 
lord Liverpool has not discovered any wish on tlie part of sir James Craig, that 
your claims for compensation should be referred to this country ; nor, indeed, 
is allusion made to any kind of arrangement or agreement that had been made 
by that officer with you. 

Under these circumstances, and had not sir James Craig detemiined on his 
immechate return to England, it would have been lord Liverpool's wish to 
have refen-ed your memorial to him, as being better able to ajjpreciate the 
ability and success with which you executed a mission, undertaken at his de- 
sire. ' Lord Liverpool will, however, transmit it to sir James Craig's successor 
in the government, and an assurance, that, from the recommendations he has 
received in your favour, and the opinion he has formed on your coiTespondence« 
he is convinced that the public service will be benefited by your active emilr' 
p]o\-ment in a public situation. 

Lord Liverpool wdl also feel himself bound to give the same assurance to 
the Marquis Wellesle}', if there is any probabdity th;.tit will advance the sue- 
cess of the application vvliich you have made to his lordship. 
I am, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, 

(Signed) ROBERT PEEL. 

John Heiiry, esq. 27, Lekester-square. 

No. XXIU. 

CSIr. Henry to Mr. Peel, September 24, 1811. J\'o other annver than a dispatch 
to sir George Prevost, and the letter marked XXIV. 

London, 4th Septembfr, 1811. 
Sir I have just now learned the ultimate decision of my lord Wellesley re- 
lative to the appointment which I was desirous to obtain ; and find that the 
subsisting relations between tlie two countries, forbid the creating a new office 
in the United States, such as 1 was sohcitous to obtain. In this state of things 
I have not a moment to lose in returning to Canada, and have taken my passage 
in the last and only ship that sails for Quebec this season. As I have no time to 
enter de novo into explanations with the gentleman who is in your office, and 
as I have received assurances from you, in addhion to the letter of my lord 
Liverpool, of the 27th of June, that "'his lordship would recommend me to the 
governor of Canada, for the first vacant situation that I would accept," I beg 
the favour of you to advise me how I am to get that recommendation, without 
loss of time. 

I have the honour to be, 8ic. J- H- 

Jtobert Peel, esq. &c. &c. &c. 

No. XXIV 

Copij of a letter ivritten by Lord Liverpool, to sir George Prevost, furnished by 
the under secretary of state. Original in the despatch to the governor general. 

Downing street, 16th Sept. 1811. 
Sir — Mr. Henry, who will have the honour of deUvering this letter, is the 
gentleman who addressed to me the memorial, a copy of which I herewith 
transmit, and to whom tlie accompanying letter from Mr. Peel was written by 
my direction. 

In compliance with his request, I now fulfil the assurance which I have given, 
of stating to you my opinion of the ability and judgment which Mr. Henry has 
manifested on the occasion mentioned in his memorial ; an,d of the benefit tho 



tSHAP. 2r.] HENRY'S \nSSlON, 157 

public service might deiive from his active employment m any public situation 
in which you should tWnk proper to place him. 

LIVERPOOL. 
To Sir George Prevost, Bart. &c. &c. 

No. XXV. 
J\fr. lit/land to JUr. Henry. 

Tuesday evening, Jidy 2d, 1811, 

Dear Henry — It gives me real pleasure to find that the apprehensions I had 
formed with respect to the fulfilment of your expectations, are likely to prove 
erroneous. As every thing which passed relative to your mission was in WTit- 
ing, I think you will do well in submitting to Mr. Peel all the original papers. 
I, myself, could give no other information relative to the subject than what they 
contain ; as you and I had no opportunity of any verbal commimication con- 
cerning it, till after your mission terminated. I never wrote you ,a letter ia 
tlie g-overnor's name, which had not previously been submitted to his coiTce- 
tion. 

The impression I had received of your character and abilities made me anxi- 
ous to serve you, even before I had tlie pleasure of a personal acquaintance 
with you ; and the same desire lias operated on me ever since. I am, therefore, 
entitled to hope, that any opinion which I may have given, as to your best 
mode of obtaining employment imder g'overnment, will be received with tha 
same candour that gave rise to it. I tliink you will do well to persevere as you 
propose. I have no doubt that every letter from you which sir James sent home, 
will be found in Mr. Peel's ofiice ; as the established practice there, is, to bind 
the despatches and enclosures yearly up togetlicr. 

H. W. RYLAND. 
John Henry, esq. 

No. XXVI. 
Jllr. Henry^s memorial to Lord Liverpool, enclosed in Lord Liverpool's despatch. 

To tlie right honourable the Earl of Liverpool, tlie undersigned most respectfully 

submits tlie folloiuing memorial. 

Long before and during the administration of your lordship's predecessor, the 
undersigned bestowed mucii personal attention to the state of parties and po- 
litical measures in the United States of America, and had an opportunity* 
[^Here an erasure of ten or t-melvc lines'] and to unite [^1n erasure liere of t7i>o 
or three lines] the infoi'mation transmitted by the undersigned to Sir James 
Craig, and by him to lord Castlereagh, met xuith his lordship's approbation,^ and 
when the hostile preparations in the United States suggested to Sir James 
Craig the necessity of making corresponding arrangements of precaution and 
defence, for the secui'ity of his majesty's colonies, he applied to the under- 
signed, to take a secret and confidential mission to the northern states to 

the party already mentioned ; to direct their operations^ 
and transmit regular information of the same, and to endeavour to render their 
plans subservient to the interest of Great Britain.% The undersigned readily un- 
dertook the mission, and spent five months in the active and zealous discharge 
of the duties connected with it. [An ei-asure here of twenty or t-iuenty-five^ 
Unes%] which deterred the general government from the purpose already men« 
tioned, and from a coalition with France,^ while the information which he trans- 
mitted to sir James Craig, probably saved the trouble and expense of arming 
the Canadian militia. All this, the vmdersig'ned performed without ever showing 
lus commission or appearing as an authorised agent — from a thorough convic- 

* See the letter of Mr. Ileniy addressed to the secretaiy of sir James Craig, 
and by him transmitted to Lord in the month of April, 1808. 

f See document No. 22, herewith submitted. 

i-- See docvnnent No. 22 and 23, herewith submitted. 

§ See letter No. 1. of the series transmitted by sir J- Craig, tg the colonial 
department, under date February 14, 1809. 

1 See the remainder of the afox'esaid letter. 
O. B. 22- 



158 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap, 2S. 

tlon that a discovery of his mission would furnish the French party with the 
means of destroying the Influence of the party adhering to Great Britain in 
every quarter of 'America, and enable the general government to go to war up- 
on popular and tenable ground. 

In the application of sir James Craig to the undersigned to undertake the 
mission aforesaid, he says " the iv formation and political observations received 
from you heretofore -zvere all transmitted to the secretarij of state, ivho has expressed 
his particular approbation of them ,- and there is no doubt thap yow able execution of 
such a mission as I have above si/gffestcd, ivould give you a claim not only on the go- 
vernor general (of British America), but on his majesty's ministers" &c. 

The undersigned being now in England on his private aflfairs, and on the eve 
of departure for America, most humbly and respectfully submits his claims, 
under the stipulations aforesaid, to the earl of Liverpool, in the confident ex- 
pectation that his lordship will treat them with that justice, andliberahty, which, 
upon investigation, they may be found to merit. 

It may not be superfluous to add, that the undersigned has never received m 
any shape whatever any compensation or patronage for the services he has ren- 
dered. This fact, Mr. Ryland, the secretary of sir James Craig, now in London, 
can vouch ; as well as for the truth of all the matters set forth in this memorial. 
I have the honoui-, &c. 

(Signed) J. HENRY. 

27, Leicester-square, June 23, 1811. 

CHAPTER XXVIIL 

Emban^o repealed. British and French vessels interdicted from 
entering our harbours. Importations frojn both countries pro- 
hibited. Invitation held out to both to cease their outrages on 
our commerce. 

The claiTiour excited against the embargo — the tumultuous 
proceedings in the eastern states — its inefficacy to answer the 
purpose intended, arising partly from the factious and disorga- 
nizing, and Jacobinical opposition it met with, and partly from 
the imbecility of Mr. Jefferson's administration, in not duly en- 
forcing it, as already statedf — all combined to produce its re- 
peal, which took place on the first of March, 1809. 

As a pacific measure, in lieu of the embargo, to induce the 
beUigercnts to respect our rights, and to cease their depreda- 
tions, under pretence of retaliation upon each other, the act 
commonly styled the non-intercourse act, was passed, of which 
I annex those sections containing its leading features. 

An act to interdict the Commercial Intercourse betiveen the Uni- 
ted States and Great Britain and France^ and their dependen- 
cies ; and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of 
America in congress assembled, I'hat from and after the passage of this act, the 
entrance of tlie harbours and waters of the United States, and of the territories 
thereof, be, and the same is hereby interdicted to ail public ships and vessels be- 
longing to Great Britain or France, excepting vessels only which may be forced 
in bv distress, or which are charged with despatches or business from the go- 
vernment to which they belong, and also packets having no cargo or merchan- 
dise on board. And if any public ship or vessel as aforesaid, not being included 
in tlie exception above mentioned, shall enter any harbour or waters within the 
jurisdiction of the United States, or the territories thereof, it shall be lawful 

• See document No. 1, herewith submitted. f See page 56. 



CHAP. 28.] NON-INTERCOimSE. 159 

for the president of the United States, or such other person as he shall have 
empowered for that purpose, to employ such part of the land and naval forces, 
or of the militia of the United States, or the territories thereof, as he shall 
deem necessarv, to compel such ship or vessel to depart. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted. That from and after the twentieth day of 
May next, the entrance of the harbours and waters of the United States, and 
the territories thereof be, and ^Ae same is hereby interdicted to all ships or vessels 
saili7ig under the fag of Great Britain or Fiance, or oivnedin -whole or in part by 
any citizens or S7cbjects of either ; vessels hired, chartered or employed by the 
government of either country, for the sole purpose of carrying letters or des- 
patches, and also vessels forced in by stress or by the dangers of the sea, only 
excepted. And if any ship or vessel sailing- under the flag of Great Britain or 
Prance, or owned in whole or in part by any citizen or subject of eithei-, and not 
excepted as aforesaid, shall, after the twentieth day of May next, arrive eitlier 
with or without a cargo, within the limits of the United States, or of tlie territo- 
ries thereof, such ship or vessel, together with the cargo, if any, which may be 
found on board, shall be forfeited ; and may be seized and condemned in any 
court of the United States or the territories thereof, having competent juris- 
diction : and aU and every act and acts heretofore passed, which shall be with- 
in the purview of this act, shall be, and the same are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That from and after the twentieth day of 
May next, it shall not be lawful to import into the United States or the terri- 
tories thereof, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatever, from any port or place 
situated in Great Britain or Ireland, or from any of the colonies or dependencies 
of Great Britain ; nor fi-om any poi-t or place situated in France, or in any of 
her colonies or dependencies, nor from any port or place in the actual posses- 
sion of either Great Britain or France. Nor shall it be lawful to import into the 
United States, or the ten-itories thereof, from any foreign port or place what- 
ever, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatever, being of the growth, pro- 
duce, or manufacture of France, or of any of her colonics or dependencies ; or 
being of the growth, produce, or manufacture of Great Britain, or Ireland, or of 
any of the colonies or dependencies of Great Britain ; or being of the growth, 
produce, or manufacture of any place or country in the actual possession of either 
France or Great Britain : provided, that nothing herein contained shall be con- 
strued to afi'ect the cargoes of ships wholly owned by a citizen or citizens of 
the United States, which had cleared from any port beyond the Cape of Good 
Hope, prior to the twenty-second day of December, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and seven, or which had depart'ed for such port by permission of the pre- 
sident, under the acts supplementary to the act layhig an embargo on all ships 
and vessels in the ports and harbours of the United States. 

Sec. 11. Andbe it further enacted, That the president of the United States be, 
and he hereby is authorised, in case either France or Great Britain shall so 
revoke or modify her edicts, as that they shall cease to violate the 7ieiitral coinmerce 
of the United States, to declare the same by proclamation ,■ after which the trade of 
the United States, suspended by this act, and by the act layi7ig an embargo on all 
ships and vessels in the ports and harbours of the United States, and the several 
acts supplementary thereto, may be renewed with the nation so doing : provi- 
ded, that all penalties and forfeitures which shall have been previously incurr- 
ed, by virtue of this or of any other act, the operation of which shall so cease 
and determine, shall be recovered and distributed, in hke manner as if the same 
bad continued in full force and virtue : and vessels bound thereafter to any fo- 
reign port or place, with which commercial intercourse shall by virtue of this 
section be again permitted, shall give bond to the United States with approved 
security, in double the value of the vessel and cargo, that they shall not proceed 
to any foreign port, nor trade with any country other than those with which 
commercial intercourse shall have be'en or may be permitted by tliis act. 
Enacted Marchl, 1809. 

I have already stated, that this law was preposterously and 
absurdly denounced, as feeble and imbecile, by ninety-nine out 
€)f every hundred democrats, in the United States. An impar. 



160 POLITICAL OLIVE RUANCII. [chap. 29- 

tial view of it will prove the folly of this denunciation. It 
evinces a deep sense of the grievous injuries the nation had sus- 
tained from the belligerents — a sincere wish to return to the re- 
lations of peace and friendship with either or both — and an ar- 
dent desire to try every rational mode of procuring redress pre- 
vious to a recourse to the horrors of war. 

It held out in one hand prohibition and penalty for wrongs in- 
flicted—in the other "• the Olive Branch" — an invitation to, and 
premium for, a mere return to justice — a mere cessation ol un- 
provoked hostility. The statute books of all the nations of 
Christendom may be searched in vain, for a law entitled to more 
unequivocal applause — and rarely has a law been more generally 
censured. 

The federalists reprobated this act as well as the democrats — 
and with equal folly and madness — but on totally different 
grounds. They regarded it, forsooth, as too violent a measure 
— as calculated to produce war — or, in foct, absurdly enough, as 
a species of warfare ! 

" Sir, the bill before you is ivar. It is to suspend all intercoiirse, to put an 
f^nH to ^\ the relatinm of amity. What is that 6v^< war? ^ITzr of the \yorst 
kind ; ivur under the ilisgiiise of ]so>f-iNTi:Kcoi usk ; no power, having national 
feeling's, or regard to national character, will SUBMIT to mch COERCION."* 

" It [non-intercoiu'se] is cowardly ; for it is a base attempt to bring on a ivar 
•with Great Britain. It is FRENCH in every feature. It is intended as a mea- 
sure of hostility ajainst Great Britain. "\ 

CHAPTER XXIX.:^ 

Bmbargo once more. Recommended to Congress by a respectable 
body of merchants in Nexv-Tork. 

This shall be a short chapter. Three minutes will be suffi- 
cient to glance it over. I hope, however, it will not be the least 
interesting in the book. 

The embargo, we have seen, was enacted in December, 1807, 
to preserve the property of the American merchants from depre- 
dation under French decrees and British orders in council — and 
likewise to coerce the belligerents, through regard to their own 
interests, to cease violating our rights. 

The merchants, and their friends universally, throughout the 
nation, reprobated this measure. Independent of its pretended 
unconstitutionality, it was denounced as t3'rannical, and oppres- 
sive, and unjust towards our fellow citizens — as feeble, and im- 
becile, and inefficient towards those nations whose insults and 
outrages it was intended to prevent. • 

* ^Ir. Ilillhouse's speech on the non-intercourse bill before the senate, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1809. 

f Boston Uopertoiy. 

i This chapter is out of its chronological order ; but its immediate connec- 
tion with tliG subject of the preceding one, has induced me to place it here. 



CHAP. 29.] NEW YORK MEMORIAL. 161 

That these sentiments pervaded the mercantile part of the 
community in 1807-8, I presmne no man of character will dare 
deny. 

Consistency is commendable. Let us enquire how far the 
merchants practised it. On the 15th of June, 1812, a memorial 
was presented to Congress, from certain merchants in New- 
York, praying for a continuance of the embargo, and the re- 
strictive system generally ! 

You are amazed, reader. You can hardly believe me. You 
are persuaded that I am not serious — that I am putting your 
credulity to a severe trial. 

You are " all in the wrong." I am as perfectly serious as I 
have ever been. And to remove all doubt on the sul^iject, be- 
hold the memorial — and behold also the names of the signers — 
forty-two federalists and sixteen democrats. Yes — deny it, who 
can. Here are forty-two federal merchants, invoking congress 
to continue the much-abused " restrictive system.;'' us likely to 
extort justice frorn Great Britain, 

MEMORUL. 

To the honourable the senate mid house of representatives of the United Slates of 
America in congress assembled, the memorial of the subscribers, merchants and 
others, inhabitants of the cittj of JVew-York, respcctfnUij sheweth: 

That your memorialists feci, in common witli the rest of their fellow citizens, 
an anxious solicitude for the honour and interests of tlieir country, and an equal 
detennination to assert and maintain them. 

That your memorialists believe that A CONTINUATION OF THE RE- 
STRICf IVE MEASURES NOW IN OPERATION, WILL PRODUCE ALL 
THE BENEFITS, WHILE IT PREVENTS THE CALAMITIES OF WAR; 
that when the British ministry become convinced tliat a trade with the United 
States cannot be i-enewed, but by the repeal of the orders in council, the distress 
of their merchants and manufacturers, and their inabihtij to support their armies in 
Spain and Portugal, 7vill probablu compel them to that measure ! 

Your memorialists beg' leave to remark, that such effects are even now visible ; 
and it may be reasonably hoped, tliat a continuance of the embargo and non- 
importation laws a few months beyond the fourth day of .Inly next, WILL EF- 
FECT A COMPLETE ANO BLOODLESS TRIUMPH OF OUR RIGHTS. 

Your memorialists therefore respectfulUi solicit of your honourable body, the 
passage of a law continidng the embargo, and giving- to the president of the Uni- 
ted States power to discontinue the whole of the restrictive system on the re- 
scinding' of the British orders in council. 

The conduct of France in burning our ships, in sequestrating our property 
entering her ports, expecting protection in consequence of the promised re- 
peal of the Berlin and Milan decrees, and the delay in completing a treaty 
with the American minister, has excited great sensation ; and we hope and 
trust will call forth from your honourable body such retaliatory measures as 
may be best calculated to procure justice. 

John Jacob Astor, John T. Lawrence, Amasa Jackson, 

Samuel Adams, Joseph W. Totten, William J. Robinson, 

Howland and Grinnel, Isaac Schermerhorn, Joseph Strong, 

E. Slosson, Alexander Rude n, Abrahams. Hallot, 

Israel fJibbs, Joseph Otis, Joshua Jones, 

Isaac Clason, Lewis Hartman, Frederic Gii-aud, jim. 

John Slidell, Garrett Stornj, Robert Roberts, 



162 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 30. 

John K. Townsend, George Bement, John Crookes, 

Andrew Ogden, & Co. S. A. Rich, Hugh M'Cormick, 

Thomas Storm, Abraham Smith, John Depeyster, 

Amos Butler, Tiiomas IL Smith, jr. Gilbert Haight, 

Ebenezer Bumll, Andrew Foster, James Lovett, 

Isaac Heyer, Jacob Barker, Leftert Lefierts, 

Ralpli Bulkley, William Lovett, Augustus \yynkoop, 

Samuel Bell, William Edgar, jr. John W Gale, 

John F. Delaplaine, Samuel Stillweil, Thomas Rich, 

Peter Stagg, Jacob P. Giraud, Samuel Marshall, 

David Taylor, John Hone, Elbert Herring. 

WilUam Adee, John Kane, 
JVew York, June 1, 1812. 

A member of congress, Mr. Taylor, stated that he was in- 
formed there were on that list the names of two presidents of 
banks, three presidents of insurance companies, thirteen directors 
of banks, besides other names of '•'■ pre-eminent standing in the 
commercial xvorld.'''' Ponder, I beseech you, reader, on these 
things. They demand the most sober and serious considera- 
tion. The embargo, and the restrictive system generally, after 
having been defeated and rendered nugatory by mercantile op- 
position, are uow, by the merchants themselves, proclaimed to 
the world as likely to effect" a bloodless triumph of our rights .''* 
What a severe satire on themselves ; what a strong panegyric 
on their opponents — this short sentence contains ! 

CHAPTER XXX. 

The Erskine arrangement. A most liberal and magnanimous 
procedure^ probably never exceeded. Loudhj applauded by all 
parties. Rejected by England. 

Never was there a measure of more fairness and candour, 
than the arrangement made by our goveiTiment with Mr. Er- 
skine. The annals of diplomacy may be ransacked in vain to 
produce a negociation more deserving of encomium, or more 
honourable to both parties. In forty-four days after Mr. Ma- 
dison's inauguration, Mr. Erskine made candid overtures to our 
government for an accommodation of the existing differences 
between the two nations. They were received with a proper 
spirit of frankness, and with a promptitude never exceeded. The 
overtures were dated on the 17th of April — the reply the same 
day — Mr. Erskine's second letter, and the reply of the secretary 
of state on the 1 8th. And, both parties being sincerely desirous 
of a reconciliation, an equitable arrangement was adjusted in 
two days, that is to say, on the 19th, whereby neither the honour 
nor the interest of either nation was compromitted. Friendly 
intercourse between them was once more restored. Never was 
a negociation conducted on more liberal or candid principles. 
It was manly and magnanimous — and affords one of the very- 
few instances in which diplomacy was divested of her usual at- 
tendants, chicane and fraud. 



•HAP. 30.] ERSKINE'S ARRANGEMENT. 163 

To enable the reader to form a correct opinion on this subject, 
I annex the whole of the correspondence between our govern- 
ment and the British minister. It will then appear that the trans- 
action can hardly be too highly eulogised. 

(No. I.) 

MB. EKSKIJfE TO MR. SMITH. 

Washington, 17th April, 1809. 

« Sir — I have the honour to hifonn you, that I have received his majesty's 
commands to represent to the government of tlie United States, that his ma- 
jesty is animated by the most sincere desire for an adjustment of the differ- 
ences, which have unhappily so long prevailed between the two coimtries, the 
recapitulation of which might have a tendency to impede, if not prevent an 
am'cable understanding. 

" It having been repi'Csented to his majesty's government, that the congress 
of the United States, in their proceedings at the opening of the last session, 
had evinced an intention of passing certain laws, which would place the rela- 
tions of Great Britain with the United States upon an equal footing-, in all res- 
pects, with other belligerent powers, I have accordingly received his majesty's 
commands, in the event of such laws taking place, to offer, on the part of his 
maiesty, an honourable reparation for the aggression, committed by a British 
naval officer, in the attack on the United States' ft'igate Chesapeake. 

" Considenng the act, passed by the congress of the United States on the 
first of March, (usually tei-med the non-intercourse act) as having produced 
a state of equality, in the relations of the two belligerent powers, with respect 
to the United States, I have to submit, conformably to instmctions, for the con- 
sideration of the American government, such terms of satisfaction and reparation, 
as, his majesty is induced to believe, will be accepted, in the same spirit of con- 
ciliation, with which they are proposed. 

" In addition to the prompt disavowal made by his majesty, on being appriz- 
ed of the unauthorised act committed by his naval officer, whose recal, as a mark 
of the king's displeasure, from an highly important and honourable command, im- 
mediately ensued, his majesty is wilhng to restore tlie men forcibly taken out 
of the Chesapeake, and, if acceptable to the American government, to make a 
suitable provision for the unfortunate sufferers on that occasion. 

" I have the honour to be, with sentiments of the highest respect and consi- 
deration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant. 



The hon. Robert Smith, esq. secretary of State, &c. 



« D. M. ERSKINE. 



(No. II.) 

MH. SMITH TO MB. ERSKINE. 

Department of State, April 17, 1809. 

«« Sir — I have laid before the president your note in which you have, in the 
name and by the order of his Britannic majesty, declared that his Britannic 
majesty is desirous of making an honourable reparation for the aggression com- 
mitted by a British naval officer in the attack on the United States' frigate the 
Chesapeake ; that, in addition to his prompt disavowal of the act, his majes- 
^, as a mark of his displeasure, did immediately recall the offending officer 
from a highly important and honourable command ; and that he is willing to 
restore the men forcibly taken out of the Chesapeake ; and, if acceptable to 
the American government, to make a suitable provision for the unfortunate suf- 
ferers on that occasion. 

" The government of the United States havhig, at all times, entertained 
a sincere desire for an adjustment of the differences, which have so long and 
so unhappily subsisted between the two countries, the president cannot but i-e- 
ceive with pleasure, assurances, that his Britannic majesty is animated by the 
same disposition ; and that he is ready, in confonnity to this disposition, to make 
atonement for the insult and aggression, committed by one of liis naval officers 
i\\ the attack on the United States' frigate, the Chesapeake.^ 



164 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 30, 

" As it appears, at the same time, tliat, in making this offer, his Britannic 
majesty derives a motive from the equality, now existing' in the relations of the 
United States, with t)ic two belligerent powers, the president owes it to the 
occasion, and to himself, to let it be understood, that this equality is a result 
incident to a state of things, growing out of distinct considerations. 

" With this explanation, as rccjuisite as it is frank, 1 am authorised to inform 
you, that the president acce])ts of the note delivered by you, in the name and 
by the (u-der of his Britannic majesty; and will consider the same, with tlie 
«-*ngagcmcnt contained therein, wiien fulhlled, as a satisfaction for tlie insult 
an(l injury of which he has complained. But 1 have it in express charge from 
the president, to state, that whiJe he forbears to insist on a further punishment 
of the oftcnding officer, he is not the less sensible of the justice and utility of 
such an example, nor the less persuaded tluit it would best comport with what 
is due from his Britannic majesty to his own honour. 

" 1 have tlie honour to be, with the highest respect and consideration, sir, 
your most obedient servant, 

" R. SMITH." 
T/ie honourable David M. Eirskine, esq. envoy extraordinary and minister plenipo- 
tentiary of his Britannic majesty. 

(No. III.) 

MR. EUSKINE TO MR. SMITH. 

Washington, Jlpril, 18, 1809. 

" Sir — I have the honour of informing you, that his majesty, having been 
■{persuaded that the honourable reparation which he has caused to be tendered 
for the unauthorised attack upon the Amei-ican frigate Chesapeake, would be 
accepted by the government of the United States in the same spirit of conci- 
liation, with which it was proposed, has instructed me to express his satisfac- 
tion, sliould such a happy termination of that aflair take place ; not only as hav- 
ing removed a painful cause of difference, but as aftbrding a fair prospect of a 
complete and cordial understanding being re-cstabhshed between tlie two 
countries. 

" The favour.able change in the relations of his majesty with the United 
States, which has been produced by the act (usually termed the non-intercourse 
act) passed in the last session of congress, was also anticipated by his majesty ; 
and has encouraged a furtiier hope, that the re -consideration of the existing 
differences might lead to their .satisfactory adjustment. 

" On these grounds and expectations, 1 am instructed to communicate to the 
American government, his majesty's determination of sending to the United 
States an envoy extraordinary, invested with full powers to conclude a treaty 
on all the points of the relations between the two countries. 

" [n the mean time, with a view to contribute to the attainment of so desira- 
ble an object; his majesty would be willing to withdraw his orders in council 
of January and November, 180r, so far as respects the United States, in the 
persuasion that the president of the United States would issue a proclamation 
for the renewal of the intercourse with Great IJritain ; and that whatever dif- 
ference of opinion should arise in the interpretation of the terms of such an 
agreement will be removed in the proposed negociation. 

" I have the honour to be, with sentiments of the highest consideration and 
esteem, sir, your most obedient humble servant, 

" D. M. ERSKINE. ' 

" Honourabk Hubert Smith, &c. &c. &c.^' 

(No. IV.) 

MB. SMITH TO MB. EUSKINP, 

Department of State, JprillS, 1S09. 
" Sir — The note which T had the honour of receiving from you this da}', [ lost 
no time in laying bef()re the president, who biing sineerel} desirous of a satis- 
factory adjustment of the dHlcrences unhap]/dy existing between Great Britain 
and the United States, iias authorised me to assure you, that he v\ ill meet, with 
ft disposition correspondent witli that of his Britannic majesty, the determin.a- 
tion of his majesty to send to the United States a special envoy, invested with 



CHAP. 30.] ERSKINE'S ARRANGEAffiNT. 165 

full powers to conclude a treaty on all the points of the relations between the 
two countries. 

"I am further authorised to assure you, that in case his Britannic majesty 
should, in the mean time, withdraw his orders in council of January and No- 
vembei', 1807, so far as respects the United States, the president will not failto 
issue a proclamation by virtue of the authority, and for the purposes specified 
in the eleventh section of the statute, commonly called the non-intercoui-seact. 
J have the honour, &c. Sep. 

R. SMITH." 

(No. V.) 

MR. EHSKINE TO MH. SMITH. 

IVasMngioii, April 19, 1809. 
" Sir — In consequence of the acceptance, by the president, as stated in your 
letter dated the eig-hteenth Instant, of the proposals made by me on the part 
of his majesty, in my letter of the same day, for the renewal of the intercourse 
between the i-espective countries, I .am authorised to declare, that his majesty's 
orders in Council of January and November, 1807, will have been withdrawn as 
respects the United States, on the tenth day of June next. I h.ave the honour 
to be, &c. &c. 

D. M. ERSpNE." 

HunouraLle Robert Smith, &c. &c. 

(No. \l.) 

MH. SMITH TO MH. EHSKTN-E. 

-Depart iiwnt of State, April 19, 1809. 
« Sir — Having' laid befpre the president your note of this day, containing an 
assurance, that liis Britannic majesty will, on the tenth day of June next, have 
wididrawn his orders in council of January and Novem.ber, 1807, as far as re- 
.spects the United States, I have the honour of informing- you, that the president 
will accordingly, and in pursuance of the eleventh section of the statute, com- 
monly called'the non-intercourse act, issue a proclamation, so that the trade of 
the United States with Great Britain may on the saine day be renewed, in the 
manner provided in tlie said section. I have the honour. Sec. &c. 

^ R. SMITH." 

BT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UXITEn STATES OF AMERICA. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

"Whereas it is provided by the eleventh section of the act of congress, en- 
titled " An act to interdict the commercial intercourse between the United 
States and Great Britain and France, and their dependencies ; and for other 
purposes ;" that " in case cither France or Great Britain shall so revoke or 
modify her edicts as that they shall cease to violate the neutral commerce of 
the United States," the president is authorised to declare the same by pro- 
clamation ; after which the trade suspended by the said act, and by an act 
Laying an embargo on all sliips and vessels in the ports and harbom's of the 
United States, and the several acts supplementary thereto, may be renewed 
with the nation so doing. And whereas the honourable David Montague 
Erskine, his Britannic majestv's envoy extraordinary, and minister plenipoten- 
tiary, has, by the order and in the name of his sovereign, declared to this go- 
vernment, that the British orders in council of January and November, 1807, 
will have been withdrawn as respects the Uwited States, on the tenth day of 
.Time next : Now, therefore, I James Madisox, President of the United States, 
do hereby proclaim, that the orders in council aforesaid will have been with- 
drawn oil the said tenth day of June next : after which day the trade of tlie 
United States with Great Britain, as suspended by the act of congress above 
mentioned, and an act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports 
and harbours of the United States, and the several acts supplementary there- 
to, may be renewed. 

O. B, 23 



165 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH, [chap. 30. 

" Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Wash- 
ini^ton, the nineteenth duv of April, in the year of our Lord one 
I. s thousand eight hundred and nine, and of the Independence of the- 
United States, tlie thirty tliird." 
By the President, JAMES MADISON. 

R. SMITH, Secretary of State. 

Never was a measure more loudly or unanimously applaud- 
ed. Parties agix-ed in their encomiums on the act and the ac- 
tors, who hardly ever before or since, accorded on any subject. 
The federalists cannot have forgotten — if they have, history will 
not forget — that they repeatedly asserted, in the most confident 
terms, that England had been at all times ready to do us justice ; 
— that it had been in the power of Mr. Jefferson, at any period 
of his administration, to have procured equally fair and honour- 
able terms ; and that nothing but his profligate devotion to 
France, and deadly hostility to England, had prevented an 
equitable adjustment of all our differences. Mr. Madison was 
hailed as a truly American president. He was invited to federal 
entertainments — claimed as a federalist and a Washingtonian — ■ 
and halcyon days of peace and plenty were augured under his 
administration, which was indubitably to usher in a political 
millennium. The farce was carried on to such an extent by the 
federalists, that the democrats grew jealous. They Avere fearful 
of losing the attachment of the president, whose election they 
had made such exertions to secure. 

In an evil hour for the United States and Great Britain, this 
honourable arrangement was fatuitously and dishonourably re- 
jected by the British ministry ; and thus the two countries were 
once more involved in the most vexatious discussions. 

So far as respects the administration of Mr. Madison, this 
affair affords the most indubitable evidence of the utter falsehood 
of the charge of French Influence,* with which the wide welkin 
has rung, and which has been, and is, as firmly believed by hun- 

* In every age, and every nation, there has been, and is some slang preva- 
lent, by whicli the people are besotted, bereft of their reason, and led " to 
plsty such pranks before high licaven, as make e'en angels weep." Who is ig- 
norant of the magical effects in Great Britain of the cry, " the church is in dan- 
ger," whereby tlie severities and restrictions vuider which the protestant dis- 
senters groaned for about one hundred and fifty years, were firmly riveted on 
tliem. The charge of "French infuence'" in the United States has been so often 
reiterated, and so generally believed, that it appears to thousands of our citi- 
zens both impertinent and absin-d to doubt its existence. But there never has 
been the sliadow of ])roof of its existence alleged. And I feel perfectly confi- 
dent, that there are thousands of Englishmen in various parts of the United 
States, pari-icularly in our sea-ports, any one of whom takes a more active part 
in our ])olitics, and has more influence on our afl'airs, than any twenty French- 
men. Talleyrand's oliscrvation on this subject is perfectly just. "In every 
part of America through which I have travelled, I have not fovuid a single En- 
glishman, who did not feel himself to be an American ; nor a single French- 
man who did not find himself a stranger."* 

There are Frenchmen in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, who have 
been naturalised ten, twenty, and even thirty years, who do not interfere so 

• Memoir on the Commercitd Relations of the United States with England' 
page 18. 



CHAP. 30.] ERSKINE'S ARRANGEMENT. 167 

dreds of thousands of our citizens, as any portion of " holy writ." 
Had there been the shghtest particle of that noxious influence in 
our cabinet, it could not have failed to prevent such a rapid 
movement as healing the long-enduring and cankered breaches 
between the two countries in two days. 

Never in the annals of mankind, did a rooted, inveterate, and 
contemptible prejudice exist, so completely, so unanswenibly 
borne down by a strong and irrefutal^le fact, as in this case is 
the accusation of French influence : and yet no more attention 
has been paid to the strong and irresistible fact, than if it had 
not the slightest bearing whatever on the subject. 'Ihroughout 
the whole of Mr. Madison's administration, this senseless, ab- 
surd, and Jacobinical cry of" French influence" has disturbed the 
harmony of the country — endangered its peace — and produced 
the most magical effects, on " the most enlightened nation in the 
world." 

The conduct of the federalists respecting this celelDrated 
instrument, was to the last degree inconsistent and indefensi- 
ble— 

They were, after it was agreed upon, as I have stated, unani- 
mous and loud in their applause of England, for her magnani- 
mity in off'ering, and of Mr. Madison, for his patriotism and 
public spirit in accepting, the terms proposed by Mr. Erskine. 
The force of the language was exhausted, in panegyrical strains. 
All the praises of Mr. Madison were accompanied by direct ot 
insinuated abuse of his predecessor. The two presidents appear- 
ed like the two ends of a scale-beam. In proportion as one rose, 
the other sunk. Mr. Madison was elevated among the celes- 
tials — Mr. Jeff'erson precipitated among the infernals. There 
was hardly one of the party from New Hampshire to Georgia, 
who did not assert, that had Mr. Jeff'erson been disposed, he 
might have made an arrangement on as favourable terms at any 
time during his administration — for England had been at all 
times equally inclined to do us justice. 

But when England rejected this arrangement— when she gave 
the lie direct to all their asseverations of her willingness to ad- 
just the diff"erences between the two countries, on fair and hon- 
ouralile principles— they still defended her. They assailed, and 
abused, and vilified, and degraded their own -government. And 
Mr. Madison, who had been placed among the stars of heaven, 
sunk down at once below the horizon into pitchy darkness, with 
his predecessor. And for what ? Had he committed any crime 
to waiTant this change of opinion ? No. Had he altered the 

much in our politics as English, Scotch, and Irishmen frequently do within the 
first month after their arrival. I have never, in thirty years, known three 
Frenchmen in Philadelphia who took an active part in our politics. Many ot 
them rarely exercise the elective franchise. 



165 POIJTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 30. 

system of conduct which had been so highly extolled ? No. His 
only crime was, that England broke the faith her minister had so 
solemnly pledged to him^and to this cruelhj-injured and outraged 
country ! ! J ! ! ! Alas ! alas ! poor human nature ! 

To establish fully wliat I have asserted, I annex extracts 
from the federal papers and speeches, published before and af- 
ter the fatal, the monstrous, the absurd rejection of this arrange- 
ment. 

" We owe it to !Mr. Madison and his cabinet to say, and we do it with pride 
and pleasure, that tliey liave come forward with a degree of promptitude and 
manhness which reflects much honour on the7n and the country. Mr. Madison lias 
now done ~^i}IuLt .Mr. Jefferson irns requested by the Jiritish government to do in- the 
note a]>pendedto the treaty returned by him. Mr. Madison is now effectually re- 
sisting the French decrees, by a total non-intercourse with that country ; and 
this c!ountry will thank him for it to tlie latest generation." United States Ga- 
zette, Apri'l 24, 1809. 

" The candour, liberality, and .'sincerity displayed in those documents, are alike 
honourable to the two governments." Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, April 
22, 18U9. 

" The non-intercourse with France, which congress threatened, Nov. 22, 
1808, and i-eally enacted March 1st, 1809, takes place on 20th May next — this 
measure against France pi-oduced what no measure against England alone could 
obtain. England -ivas to be ivoii ivith signs of justice and impartiality ; and yielded 
to these considerations -what she tvovld not yield either to threats or force." Boston 
Repertory, May 9, 1809. 

" Nothing here said is designed to reflect on Mr. Madison as the president of 
the United States. In the first act is which he has beex called upox he has 
BEHAVED with WISDOM. JMuy he go on so. Mr. Madison thus far has in fact acted 
ministerially ; that is, pursuant to an act of congTcss, or the generally expressed 
voices of his countrymen." Idem. 

" We will not stop to enquire whether the spirited and vigorous measures of 
New England — their determined public declarations that they would not sub- 
mit to an unnecessaiy and destructive war, has induced the administration to 
listen to the same terms which Great Jiritain has always been ready to offer, and to 
'ii'hich we have unifor7nly contended s/w was sincerely disposed." Boston Gazette, 
April 1809. 

"That Mr. Madison does not wish to embroil us with England, we are now 
thoroughly convinced ; while he continues to pursue an honest and impartial policy, 
where he makes one enemy, he will gain a dozen friends." Baltimore Federal 
Republican, as quoted l)y the Philadelphia Gazette, June 22, 1809. 

" Scarcely was .Mr. Madison seated in the chair of state, when, contrary to all 
our expectations, but agreeably to our wishes, he gave the lie to all his election- 
eering advocates ,- abandoned jiractically and in the face ef the world the policy 
and course of the sage ; and concluded with Mr. Erskine an agreement, which, 
knocking the ignominious ha/id-cnffs from our hands, unmooring our ships, rejoicing 
our hearts, and elevating ojir hopes, drew from the union (the jacobins excepted) 
an niifcigneil burst of heart-cheering applause. JWzri- statesman did an act more 
popidar or more conducir^e to the true and permanent interest of his country." Phila- 
delphia Gazette, June 23, 1809. 

"The public documents which we this day have the satisfaction of laying be- 
fore our readers are of a Jiighly pleasing and interesting character. The note of 
Mr. Ei-skinc furnishes satistactoiy evidence of a real disposition on the part of 
liis government to adjust, on permanent principles, the long subsisting" differ- 
ences vvitii this counti-y ; and Mr. Smith's answer to that note evinces a candour 
and promptitude ccjually honourable to the views and wishes of the American 
administration. IVhile both parties are governed by this spirit of confidence in 
the assurances of each other, we can foresee no possible circumstance to impede 



CHAP. 30.] RRSKINE'S ARRANGEMENT. 169 

their anivlng at a full, liberal, and advantageous accommodation." Philadel- 
phia Gazette, June 19, 1809. 

" We sincerely trust that an enlightened administration will continue by its 
measures of prudence, economy, and wisdom, to increase the mortification and 
rage of men, aliens to the true interests and honour of our country." lb. 

On the second of May, 1809, Mr. Randolph moved in the 
house of Representatives of the United States, the following 
resolution — 

" Resolved, That the promptitude and frankness with which the President 
of the United States has met the overtures of the government of Great Bri- 
tain towai'ds a restoration of harmony and free commercial intercourse between 
the two nations, meet the approbation of this house." 

This occasioned a long debate, in which the federalists were 
universally in favour of the motion. Mr. Barent Gardenier was 
among the most ardent eulogists of Mr. Madison. There ap- 
peared to be no bounds to his applause. 

" This. tree from which we expected to gather only the fi-uit of bitterness 
and son-ow, is ah-eady yielding us fruit far different — gladness and unspeakable 
joy. To speak in the language of the resolution, ' the promptitude andf-cmkness 
■with -ivhich the presideiit has met the ovei'titres of Great Britain,' while tliey re- 
ceive the applause and gratitude of the nation, caU not less imperiously for an 
unequivocal expression of them by this house. 

" I must say that I do like the words ' promptitude a?idfraiih)iess." The 
compliment they convey is highly merited, as I sliall endeavour to prove. 

" For bringing about this state of things, I yield my hearty approbation to the 
president of the United States ,- and I beheve that when none of us could see 
the end of our troubles, the president was seci-etly conducting us to the late 
happy results. 

" But at last that state of things ORIGINALLY PROPOSED BY GREAT 
BRITAIN, has been brought al)out, both as it regards the equality contended 
for, and as regards the assurance of resistance desired. The proclamation lac- 
ing removed, a fair adjustment could meet with no impediment from that 
cause. And it is a melancholy fact, in this respect there never tvould have been an 
impediment, if this government had been idlUng to do originally ivhat it has at last 
consented to do. 

" It is for the promptitude and frankness with which the president met this 
overture, that I thank him most cordially in behalf of my country. I approve 
it most heai-tily. 

" And it is now in proof before us, as I have always said and contended, that 
NOTHING -ivas -zvanting but a proper spirit of conciliation — nothing but fair and 
honourable dealing on the part o/THlS country, to bring to a happy issue all the 
fictitious differences bet-iveen this country and Great liritain ,- and that is now ac- 
knowledged to be ti-ue, for saying which, I have been so much censured— cen- 
sured, because it suited the purposes of some people, to attribute to me a con- 
fidence in the justice of the British government, wliich did not become an 
American citizen. 

" The president, veiy properly relying on tlie assurances of the British 
minister, that the edicts of Great Britain -would have been -ivithdra-ivn, on or be- 
fore the 20th of June then next, autliorised a renewal of intercoiu'se after that 
day." 

The governor of Massachusetts, in his speech to the legisla- 
ture, unites his praises vnth those of Mr. Gardenier — 

" We have great reason to indulge the hope of realizing those views [arising 
from a revival of commerce] from the prompt and amicable disposition, with 
V hich it is imderstood tlie present fcderi^l administration met the conciliatory 



170 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cH£t: 30. 

overtures of Great Britain — a disposition which is entitled to, and -will certainly re- 
ceive the heartij approbation of every one who sincerely loves the peace and prospe- 
rity of the nation." 

The senate and house of representatives re-echo this encomi- 
astic strain : 

« The present administration of the general government has had the insdom 
To discern, and the patriotism to commence, a course of policy respecting our com- 
merce and foreign relations, w hicli is calculated to promote the prospeiity, and 
to secure the peace and independence of our country." 

" The prompt acceptance by the federal administration of the concihatory 
overtures of Cireat JJritain, which opened the door for the removal of those 
"Tic-, ous embarrassments by which the industry and enterprize of our citizens^ 
have been so long puralized, tneets the approbation, and ivill ensure the support oj 
t/tis cemmo7itvealth." 

Messrs. Wagner and Hanson chimed in with the general 

strain of approbation, which was carried to the utmost extent, 

in order, by the contrast, to blacken the character of the former 

administration. 

" Sophistry is busily at work in the democratic papers, to show that the ac- 
commodation with England is the residt of the democratic plans — that is to say, 
of the embargo and non-intercourse law. If this could be made to appear, it 
A\ ould so f\r\absolve their autJiors from the ruin and sufferings imposed by 
those laws, as to prove that they had some effect. But the common sense of 
the people is proof against the delusion ; who are persuaded that what was so 
easily effected in April last, might have been done long before, and the nation 
been thereby saved from the humiliation of retiring from the exercise of its 
rights upon the ocean, as well as the immense loss it has suflrered,and continues 
to sustain in the decay and depreciation of its produce. Eveiy reflecting mind 
feels this at once ; nor does it require any chcuitous arg-ument to be convinced, 
that ft persevering and ardent opposition to these democratic Jtiggles, and not a vo- 
luntary abandonment of them, broke the embargo, and placed France and Great 
Britain jipon that equal footing, which the latter unifobmly declared would 

INDUCE lIEll TO COMPROMISE. * 

" Sincere and general as has been the joy spread by the return of a good un- 
derstanding with England, will be the indignation, which at no distant day, a 
calm review of the snares which have been laid to entrap our peace, and extinguish^ 
our prosperity, will unavoidably inspire. The current of the disapprobation of 
this conspiracy is not at a stand. It has much greater progress to make ; nor 
will it stop until it places an insuperable bar against even the aspiring party 
which, till latcl}-, has lorded it without opposition over the state of Maryland."* 

I shall add to these extracts the sentiments of Mr. Coleman, 
editor of the New- York Evening Post, which are as strong and 
decisive as any of the others. 

" Look at the files of this paper for a twelve month. You wiU find it insisted 
upon that Great Britain wished for an adjustment of differences, and would come 
to an accommodation the moment we gave her a chance to do so, by placing h'^r on an 
equal fooling with Fraiice.— Mr. Erskine very promptly begins, by stating, on 
our government's placing England on a footing with France, England will make 
. reparation — just precisely what i have said a hundred times over in this 

PAPER, SHE WOULD VERY GLADLY DO. 

« The first part of the second resolution accompanying the report of the com- 
mittee of foreign relations, contemplated SiU arrangement by which the respec- 
tive belligerents would be placed in a state of equality as to the exclusion of 

* Federal Republican, July 4, 1809. 



CHAP. 30.] EBSIvINE'S ARRANGEMENT. 171 

their ships of war from our harbours. This report, was sent to England; and 
iiiimeiliutcly the British minister dih-^cted Mr. Erskinc to make the propositions 
which have hitely been acceded to and published, provided any measure ivas 
adopted w liich would place Great Britain in a state of equahty with her enetnies, 
as to the admission or exclusion of her ships of war from our harboui>s. The 
NON-ixTEivCOURSE ACT w.'.s OF THIS NATURi,. Mr. Erskiuc stated the intentions of 
las government, and an agreement has been made."* 

""Well may die merchants of Alexandria rejoice at Mr. Madison's retw^ to 
the good old priuciple of F£;deiiai.is>i. Let the crazu professors of Jeffersonism 
give themselves up to weeping and wailing, and all the afflicting stings of jea- 
lousy and mortification. The federahsts WILL pay homage to Mr. Madison, 
while he continues to pursue the course he has taken."f t 

Relying on the good faith of Great Britain,our government 
immediately removed the restrictions on her commerce; re- 
stored the intercourse between the two nations to the state in 
which it had been previous to the misunderstanding ; and natu- 
rally expected to be met on the same fair and honourable ground 
by the other contracting party. But other counsels fatally pre- 
vailed at St. James's. The solemn contract made by its minis- 
ter plenipotentiary was rejected on the ground of his having 
" exceeded his instructions." 

Had Mr. Erskine made a wanton sacrifice of the honour and 
interests of his country — the rejection of his arrangement might 
be palliated, perhaps justified. But no man who has any i-egard 
to his character, will pretend this to have been the case. Both 
were equally secured. And to prevent any difficulty in the 
adjustment of the dispute — to evince more fully Mr. Madison's 
sincere wish for harmony, the thorny and difficidt subject of im- 
pressment was laid aside for future negociation. 

" But Mr. Erskine exceeded his instructions." What, in 
the name of heaven, I ask, must have been the instructions that 
did not warrant an envoy extraordinary to propose or ratify 
such an arrangement ; so simple, so fair, and so honourable ? 

But admitting for a moment, that Mr. Erskine exceeded his 
instructions — or let us even suppose that he had made this ar- 
rangement of his own mere motion, without any instructions 
Avhatever — what reasonable objection could be made to it? 
Could the most partial friend of England, if actuated by ho- 
nourable views, require better terms ? 

Let us analyse this arrangement — let us state the quid pro 
quo — 

To America it offered 

1. A repeal of the orders in council — 

2. Atonement for the outrage on the Chesapeake. 

* New York Evening Post, April 26, 1809. 
t Federal Republican. 

i The mass of tlie extracts in this chapter are chiefly taken from " Tilings as 
tliey are." 



l/;2 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [coap. 5©- 

To England 

1. A restoration of all the immense advantages of the most 
valuable commerce in the world — 

2. A continuation of the suspension of intercourse between 
the United States and France. 

I freely appeal at this moment to George Cabot, James 
Lloyd, jr. governor Strong, Timothy Pickering, Alexander 
Contee Hanson, or to Lord Castlereagh, to decide whether there 
Avere anv thing in these terms that could warrant the government 
of a mighty nation to break the faith pledged by its minister — 
and to attach shame, disgrace, and dishonour to that minister in 
the eyes of his own nation and of the whole world ? Neither of 
these gentlemen will dare to aver that there was. 

The reader who has perused with attention the Erskine ar- 
rangement, and considered the advantageous terms it insured to 
Jingland, will be struck with surprise at its rejection. He will 
naturally ask, by what ill-starred and fatal councils were the 
British ministry influenced? This is a question not easily an- 
swered. I shall attempt a solution. 

A recurrence to the 26th chapter of this Avork, will show 
the tumultuous, disorganizing, and Jacobinical proceedings that 
occurred in Massachusetts in the early part of the year 1809. 
Open resistance to the embargo was advocated in the news pa- 
pers — preached from the pulpit — plainly menaced in the legisla- 
ture — and publicly proclaimed in inflammatory resolutions of 
town meetings. 

Intelligence of these disgraceful, these Jacobinical proceedings 
reached England contemporaneously with the account of Mr. 
Erskine's arrangement. It is highly probable that the British mi« 
nistry deceived themselves into the opinion that our government 
would be obliged to abandon the restrictive system altogether ; 
that they would then be able to enforce the orders in council, 
without losing the advantages of our trade; and that these consi- 
derations induced them to reject the arrangement. 

This I offer roeix-ly as a conjecture. That it is plausible can- 
not be denied. But in our times there will probably be no op- 
portunity of fully ascertaining how far it is correct. 

Another reason has been assigned. It is said that George 
III. was irritated at the implied censure of his government re- 
specting the conduct of admiral Berkeley, which, it is asserted, 
so far wounded his feelings as to induce him to reject the ar- 
rangement. Many of our citizens have defended the rejection on 
this groimd. Let us calmly and boldly investigate the affair. 

The United States are in a state of profound peace. One of 
their frigates leaves port. She expects no attack. She is therefore 
xmprepared for resistance. She is followed by a vessel of superior 
force, belonging to a friendly power. This vessel has just en- 
joyed the hospitalities of our ports. She overtakes our frigate 



CHAP. 30. ERSKINE'S ARRANGFAfENT. 173 

She imperiously demands four seamen, said to be British. Bri- 
tish or Americans, they had entered vokintarily. And let it be 
borne in remembrance, the demand is made by a nation which 
holds in bondage, thousands of our citizens, who, in the pursuit 
of their lawful vocations, have been seized by force and violence, 
and often with bloodshed and desjjerate wounds. And further 
let it be also borne in i-emembrance, the demand is made by a 
nation which has proclaimed, as an irrevocable law to 
ALL THE WORLD, that s/ie xvUl hold^ at every hazard^ those sea- 
men^ natives of whatsoever country they may be^ xvho enter her 
service voluntarily.^ The demand is repelled. Our frigate is 
attacked. Our unresisting citizens are cruelly murdered ! ! ! The 
decks of the vessel flow with blood ! ! She is taken. The crew 
is overhauled. Fovir of them are outrageously seized, and made 
prisoners. One is ignominiously hanged ! ! The other three, ful- 
ly proved to be impressed Americans, are held in bondage — '• — 

I can go no farther My pen refuses its office Does not 

this blood cry to heaven for vengeance on the murderers? Can 
the foul stain be effaced but with blood ? " Whoso sheddeth 
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." 

But, reader, I was wrong. My feelings led me astray. The 
atonement was worthy of the justice of the monarch whose sub- 
jects perpetrated — worthy of the nation which suffered — the hor- . 
rible outrage. For " Admiral Berkley xvas recalled from a high- 
ly important and honourable command^ as a mark of the king's 
displeasure! !''''] But let it be added, he was recalled to be 
placed on a better station. — He was removed from Halifax to be 
stationed at Lisbon:}: — And this was the only mark of displeasure 
he ever experienced. In 1810, he was promoted from the rank 
of vice-admiral to that of admiral. He is now lord high admiral 
of Portugal. 

To be serious. Every man of a correct mind and sound prin- 
ciples felt that his Britannic majesty owed it to himself to have 
displayed his disapprobation of the foul deed in some decisive 
mode. The offender ought to have been severely punished. 
And therefore it is impossible not to approve the dignified but 
mild style in which the president treats the transaction :— 

" I am authorised to inform you, that the president accepts of the note de- 
livered by you, in the name and by the order of his Britannic majesty ; and will 
consider the same, with the engag-ement contained therein, wheii fulfilled, as a 
satisfaction for the insult and injury of-vhich he has complained. But I have it in 
express charge from the president to state, that while he forbears to insist on a 
further punishment of the offending officer, he is not the less sensible of tlie jus- 

* This reason, a complete sic volo, sic jubeo — stat pro ratione voluntas — ha^j 
been repeatedly assigned, to justify a refusal of the surrender of natives of 
America, held in bondage on board British vessels of war, when chiimed by 
the proper agents of our government. 

t See Mr. Erskine' letter No. 1. 

+ The outrage was committed in June. He did not leave Halifax till De- 
cember. 

O. B. 24 



174 POLITICAL OLH^ BRANai. [chap. 30. 

tice and utility of such an example, nor the less persuaded that it -would best com- 
port loith what is due from his Britanync majesty to his oion honour.'* 

To enable us to form a correct idea of this transaction, let us 
suppose th^t commodore Barron had anchored in Portsmoiith 
or Plymouth — that twenty of his sailors had voluntarily entered 
on board a British frigate — that he had demanded them — had 
followed the frigate to sea — attacked her — killed part of her crew 
— seized as many as he judged proper — and, finally, to cap the 
climax, hanged one of them. What would be the result ? Ven- 
geance ! vengeance ! would have been the cry from the Orkneys 
to the Land's End — and nothing would appease the insulted 
digiiity of England, but Copenhagenizing New-York, or Bal- 
timore, or Philadelphia, or Charleston. 

" My dear sir, one of my oxen has gored one of your cows." 
" Well to be sure, you will make reparation — you will send me 
a cow in the place of the one I have lost. To that you cannot 
make any objections." "It is all very right. But hold, I mis- 
took. It is all the other way. It was your ox that gored 7ny 
coiv.''^ So, so, we'll see about it. Call some other time." 
" Mv good sir — this is not very correct. The business would 
have been soon settled^ had you been as zviUing to do justice to 
others., as to receive it frojn them.^'> 

Since the above was written, I have consulted Mr. Canning's 
despatches to Mr. Erskine, by which it appears that the British 
government calculated on Mr. Erskine's adjusting the differ- 
ences between the two nations on the following basis : 

Extract of a letter from Mr. Canning, secretary, to the honourable David J\I. Ers- 
kine, dated Foreign Office, January 23, 1809. 

" 1. That the Amei'ican g-ovcrnment is prepared in the event of his majesty's 
consenting to withdi-aw the orders in council of January and November, 1807, 
to withdraw contemporaneously on its part the interdiction of its harbours to 
ships of war, and all non-intercourse and non-importation acts, so far as re- 
spects Great Britain ; leaving them in force with respect to France, and the 
powers wliich adopt or act imder her decrees. 

♦' 2. (VVliat is of the utmost importance, as precluding- a new source of mis- 
understanding wliich might arise after the adjustment of the other questions) 
THAT \MEllICA IS WK.LING TO IJENOUNCE, DURING THE PRE- 
SENT AVAR, THE PRETENSIONS OF CARRYING ON, IN TIME OF 
WAR, ALL TRADE WITH THE ENEMIES' COLONIES, FROM WHICH 
SHE WAS EXCLUDED DURING PEA(;E ! ! ! 

" 3. Great Britain, for the purpose of secm-ing the operation of the embargo, 
and of the bona fide intention of America to prevent her citizens from trading 
with France, and the powers adopting and acting luider the French decrees, IS 
TO BE CONSIDERED AS BEING AT LIBERTY TO CAPTURE ALL SUCH 
AMERICAN \ ESSELS AS MAY BE FOUND A I'TEMPTING TO TRADE 
WITH THE PORTS OF ANY OF THESE POWERS!!! without which sc- 
surity for Ihe oljservance of the embargo, the raising of it nominally with re- 
spect to Great Britain alone, would, in fact, raise it with respect to all the 
world. 

" On these conditions his majesty -luould consent to ■ivithdraio the orders in council 
of January and JVovember, 1807, so far as respects Jlmeiica." 



tHAr. 30,] EnSKINE'S ARRANGEilENT. 175 

Let us examine this most precious document with all the at- 
tention its importance demands. Let us weigh its every line — 
its every word. Let us see what justice^ what fair dealing it 
meted out to this injured, this insulted, this plundered nation. 
Let us see how far the advocates of English libei^ality and Eng- 
lish justice are borne out in their commendations of England, 
and their intemperate abuse of their own government. 

The orders in council, existing at the date of the Erskine ar- 
rangement, blockaded France, Holland, and a part of Italy ; 
containing a population of about fifty millions of people. 

By Mr. Canning's instructions to Mr. Erskine, these orders 
were to be rescinded on three conditions — 

1. Taking off all restrictions from the English commerce. 

2. " Renouncing, during the existing war, all trade with the 
enemies' colonies from which we were excluded in time of 
peace:" in other words, assenting by treaty to the unjust and 
exploded rule of 1756. 

3. Allowing the British to capture our vessels bound to 
France and her dependencies; which, reader, is neither 

MORE NOR LESS, THAN WEAVING THE ORDERS IN COUNCIL INTO 

A TREATY— and giving our own solemn sanction to the extra- 
vagant pretensions of Great Britain to limit our trade, which 
pretensions we had steadily resisted. 

Stupendous injustice ! — Never befoi^e were such revolting 
propositions made to any nation, not absolutely subjugated. 
What ! Make a treaty by which we should let loose upon our 
defenceless commerce, the whole host of the thousand public 
ships of w:ar, and hundreds of privateers, of the greatest naval 
power in the world ! The mind is lost in astonishment at such 
an unparalleled requisition. 

But gross, and insulting, and outrageous as was this proposi- 
tion — destructive as its acceptance would have been to the vi- 
tal interests of this countrv — there was, I believe, no federal 
printer from New Hampshire to Georgia, that expressed a sin- 
gle word of censure of the conduct of England for her daring 
and insulting demands, or for her breach of the contract. No. 
England was uniformly right— their own government as uni- 
formly wrong. It seemed impossible for England to commit any 
act, or make any demand that would not be justified — 

Let me establish these allegations — 

" It having been shewn, that the plea of ig-norance is inadmissible in the case 
of the Erskine an-angement ; that it was the secretary's duty to know the pow- 
er of the minister before he proceeded to act upon it ; that to act upon an un- 
known power, is to act without power : it follows that our administration, if 
they understood their business, must have been aware that they -ivere negociating 
■with an unmUliorised individual ,- unauthorised quoad hoc, as to this particular 
subject; with one tuho had shotvn no authority for the pjirpose. Consequently 
they had no reason to rely on, nor to expect, a fulfilment of the compact by the 
British government, knotving, as they did, that it had been agreed upon ivithout 



176 POLITICAL OLIVE BRA^XIL [chap. 30. 

anv adequate information of tlie terms having- been authorized by that govern- 
ment." United States Gazette, Dec. 11, 1809. 

" No expression has escaped any member of the British cabinet, eitlier in par- 
liament or elsewhere, making indecorous insinuations against the United States, 
or manifesting a temper unfriendly to conciliation. On the contrary they have 
declared a wish to renew amicable negociodon ; having named a minister for 
that purpose ; and, with at least appai-ent sincerity, have expressed their fears 
that this unfortunate en-or of Mr. Erskine may increase the difficulties of a 
jriendly arrangement between the two countries." United States' Gazette, 
October 5, 1809. 

" By letters from well-informed men in England, we are assured that tJiC con- 
duct of Mr. JLrskine is condemned by all parties in t/iat country ,■ that the temper 
of the pubhc is far beyond that of the ministry. A very general opinion pre- 
vails there, that it will be very difficult to keep any terms with this country: 
that ive are governed by men devoted to the interests of France, who are deterniineu 
to insist on terms from England ivhich never can he obtained//.'" Boston Palla- 
dium, August 11, 1809. 

" It is a tiTitli which the wisest and best patriots of America have long and 
seriously deplored, that the past administration had furnished no symptom of im- 
partiality between the two belligerents, \)r<i\\o\xs to the act inhibiting the enti-ance 
of our ports to the armed vessels of the one as well as of the other. In that spi- 
rit which Mr. Smith still retains, and now laboui's to revive in the bosom of 
others, hostility to Kngland and tame subserviency to France, are known to have 
been its characteristic features / / / The facts are in tlie possession of every 
man ; which prove that the feelings of the g-reat body of the people, not their 
leaders, preserved us from a war in which a complete success would have rivet- 
ed chains on ourselves." United States' Gazette, October 18, 1809. 

" For our part, we have had but one opinion from the commencement of this mys- 
terious affair ; and we have made bold to express it. It Is, that JMr. Erskine 
acted contrary to his instructions // / and that secretary Smith knew what these 
instructions were / / .''' Ibid. 

" In short, Mr. Erskine surrendered every thing, and got nothing in return / .' .'" 
Jbid. 

" The people have been flagrantly deceived, and grossly alrused / / / The matter 
rests between J\lr. Erskine and our administration / / / VVherever the blame shall 
attach, it is for the people to apply or originate the remedy." Federal Republi- 
can, July 31. 

Mr. Hanson states, that " 3Ir. Erskine surrendered every 
thing ^ and got nothing m retxirnl'''' What a stupendous disre- 
gard of fact is embraced in these few words ! It is impossible to 
exceed it. What did he surrender ? Merely the odious, the un- 
just orders in council ! And did he receive nothing in return ? 
Was the immense trade of the United States nothing ? Was it 
nothing to perpetuate the non-intercourse with France, till she 
rescinded her piratical decrees ? I aver in the face of this na- 
tion, and defy Mr. Hanson to controvert the fact, that England 
gained immensely — and that she surrendered nothing but what 
justice ought to have induced her to have surrendered long be- 
fore, of her own accord. 

" He [Mr. Erskine] also declares that the British government have undoubt- 
edly a right to disavow the agreement ; and they have dnne every thing that be- 
came an honourable nation to prevent evil consequences arising to the citizens of 
this country from trusting to the terms of the agreement being fulfilled." Uni- 
ted States' Gazette, October 5, 1809. 

"It will be observed that this show of words, and thee negative statements, 
after all, by the president, serve only to make the public beheve, that he had no 
•reason to apprehend a disavowal. He is not hardy enough to say, that under the 
circumstances of the case, the British gover7iment was bound to abide by Ev- 



CHAP. 30.] ERSKINE'S ARRANGEMENT. 177 

skiiie's act ,- or that they conducted perfidiously in disavowing it. Yet this as- 
persion, one of the most injurious and provoking' that can be thrown upon a na- 
tion, has been uttered, and incessantly repeated, for several months, in every 
democratic paper in the union." United States' Gazette, December 20, 1809. 

" If, as asserted by Mr. Erskine, his powers were communicated to our cabi- 
net in substance ; if the heads of departments did early communicate to the 
leading- members of both branches of their own politics, the incompetenci! of fas 
powers, and the probability of the rejection of the agreement by Great Britain ,- 
then that adjustment, so far from being a proof of a disposition to make peace and 
settle our differences, IS THE STRONGEST EVIDENCE OF A HOSTILE 
TEMPER : because Mr. Madison knew, that tlie revulsion and the disappoint- 
ment occasioned by it among our citizens, would excite new clamours, and 
would break to pieces that formidable phalanx of men, who, durir.g our em- 
bai-rassments, had learned to speak and think more favourably, and of course- 
more justly, of Great Britain." United States' Gazette, December 9, 1809. _ 

" If such has been his aim (and perhaps a deeper pohtician does not exist) 
it has been completely attained. His own party are again roused to a war 
pitch. Even some federalists are open in their censure of Great Britain for DOING 
HER DUTY TO HERSELF, and exercising a right we have always claimed 
and received ; and other federalists doubt, and are in favour of waiting to hear 
Mr. Erskine's explanation, and STILL PROPOSE TO PLACE AN ILL DE- 
SERVED CONFIDENCE IN MR. MADISON." Ibid. 

On this last paragraph I shall make but one observation, to 
which I request attention. It is, that according to the United 
States' Gazette, it was, in December, " the duty'' of England 
*' TO HERSELF," to reject an arrangement which the same Ga- 
zette in April stated she had repeaUdlij in vain pressed o?i Mr, 
yefferson ! ! ! 

Now, my dear reader, whoever you be, that have come thus 
far with me, let me solemnly invoke you, in the name of the liv- 
ing God, to make a pause here. As you value your beloved 
country — as you prize its honour — its happiness — your own 
welfare — the happiness, the welfare of your posterity — review 
this whole subject. I must once more bring it before your eyes. 

A British envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 
informs our government that he has orders to propose aB ar. 
rangement of two or three leading points of difference between 
the two countries, preparatory to a treaty. His overtures arc 
accepted. An arrangement is made. It is highly advantageous 
to both nations, but more particularly to that of the envoy. 
There is not the slightest sacrifice of its honour or interest. Af- 
ter this arrangement is completed, we are assured a thousand 
times that England had been always ready to arrange our differ- 
ences on these very terms. The United States' Gazette, and other 
opposition newspapers, expressly state that " she had repeated- 
ly requested Mr. Jefferson to do the same thing." — And yet, 
when the compact is rejected, these same papers assert that the 
envoy extraordinary had no power to make the convention — de- 
fend England for the breach of her engagement — and, as I have 
already stated, transfer the odium to their own government ! ! ! 
No powers of language are adequate to express the astonish- 
ment, the indignation this procedure excites. 



178 



POLITICAL OUM^ BRANCBf. 



[chap, 30, 



To facilitate a comparison of the astonishing, the never- 
enoiigh-to.be-lamented contradictions of opinion that were pro- 
mulgated on this subject, by the same persons, for the purpose 
of poisoning the public mind, I place in opposite columns some 
of the statements that preceded, and those that followed the re- 
jection of the Erskine arrangement. The human mind cannot 
conceive any thing more completely inconsistent. 



BEFORE REJECTION. 

*' As to the revocation of the ordet^s 
in council it is merely necessary to ob- 
serve, that the terms, which our go- 
vernment has 7io-iv accepted, inig-ht have 
been obtained at anij time past \ THEY 
WERE ALWAYS IN OUR POWER." 
Federal Republican, May 3, 1809. 

" Let Mr. Erskine's overture for an 
accommodation be viewed in whatever 
]ig"htitmay suit democratic ingenuity to 
place it, and they will find that tlie de- 
lusion so long kept up is effectually dis- 
sipated ; their diabolical schemes com- 
pletely frustrated. 

" Great Britain, in the tnie spirit of 
amitv, is ivilling- to meet us." Idem. 

" To the honour of England, and the 
confusion of French spies, and convict 
fugitives from the British dominions, 
her ministry seized the first favourable 
moment to make lionourable reparation 
for the insult offered our flag, and to 
negociate a commercial treaty." Idem, 
April 25. 

"The autliority vested in Mr. Ers- 
kine to offer the terms to this govern- 
ment which have been acceded to, was 
merely provisional, and was not to be 
exercised unless the anticipated change 
in our political relations, on which they 
were predicated, should take place. 
Mr. Erskine has since received /)o,w7ive 
iTistructions from liis government to 
make the arrangement already conclu- 
ded. Tliese 7iew instructions, whicli mani- 
fest'the earnest desire of England to heal 
the differences between the two coun- 
tries, are occasioned by a knowledge 
that the non-intercourse law had ac- 
tually passed, placing the belligerents 
on a fairfootingof impartiality. In spite 
of all the intrigues and deceptions of 
the French ])arty, we are convinced 
that a happy termination will be put to 
our disputes witli England." 

Fed. Rep. June 17. 

"It was the policy of Mr. .Jefferson 
to keep alive in the midst of our peo- 



AFTER REJECTION. 

" What was but a few days ago a 
doubtful point, is now settled by the 
publication of Mr. Erskine's instruc- 
tions. Sufficient information has been 
received, to convince all candid per- 
sons, that the rancour with which the 
English cabinet has been pui'sued, 
and the violent abuse with which it 
has been assailed, \va.s undeserved. 
We do not entertain a doubt, when all 
the circumstances shall have been dis- 
closed, that it -will appear that secretary 
Smith actually sa-u) Erskin^s instruc- 
tions ; and that the arrangement loas 
7nade, merely as an experiment. We 
feel confident that the thing will be 
put upon this footing. //' then the 
United States will be idtimately inju- 
red by this act, they -zaill Judge xvhere 
the blame lies." 

Fed. Rep. July 27, 1809. 

" Our cabinet, certainly not a littie 
interested in strengthening tjie cause 
of democracj', have prevailed upon 
Mr. Erskine to do an act which has 
extricated their party from the most 
embarrassing and difficult situation 
that it was possible for them to be 
placed in, which they [the cabinet] 
knew would not be ratified : they at a 
single dash, rid themselves of all tlie 
obnoxious measures which brought so 
much ridicule and disgrace upon their 
party, and have contrived for a time, 
to heap odium upon England. In the 
next place by seeming to improve the 
first opj)ort\mity of an aiTangement 
with England, they disproved to ap- 
pearance the charge of animosity to 
England and partiality for France. 

" These were the important advan- 
tages which Mr. Secretary Smith flat- 
tered himself would be the fruit of 
his cunning. By eff'ecting an arrange- 
ment which he knew was unauthori- 
sed on the part of Mr. Erskine, and 
would necessarily be rejected by the 
British government ; he calculated 



CHAP. 30.] 



ERSIONE'S ARR.\^GEMENT. 



179 



AFTER Ri:jECTIO>f . 

that the administration would be ren- 
dered greatly popular, and the resent- 
ment of the people proportionably 
augmented against England, whenever 
the chsavowal should he received. 
Whenever it shall be made to appear 
that the nation has been deceived, the 
trick will recoil upon the Secretary 
and his party with tenfold effect. The 
American people cannot bear knavery 
and imposition. If they discover that a 
fi'aud has been practised upon them at; 
home, the attempt to raise a clamouP 
against others, will be found but a poor 
protection to their popularity." Idem. 

" Those who were most violent at 
first in calumniating England, are now" 
willing at leat to suspend their decis- 
ion, if not to admit that oiir o-wn cabi- 
net in some measure will participate in 
>L'. Erskine's blame." 

Fed. Rep. Aug. 2, 1809. 

" Every one acknowledges, that had 
our executive concluded the arrange- 
ment of April last, with Mr. Erskine, 
knowing that he was unauthorised, the 
whole responsibihty for the conse- 
quences, however serious, would have 
rested upon themselves. It has been 
maintained by the editor of this Gazette, 
and is now demonstrated by the indubi- 
table authorities, adduced by Mr. Da- 
na, that to have do7ie so ivithoiit knoivinsr 
that he was authorised, was equally un- 
■warrantable, and left the administration 
no ground on luhich to claim a ratification 
oftlie proceeding by the British goveni' 
ment. It is proved beyond a doubt, 
that i/ie government might, -cithjiist as 
rmich propriety, have cajoled -zvith gener- 
al Smith, or any other individual ; con- 
eluded a convention ,• proceeded to carry 
it into execution on their part : and then 
raised a clamour against the government 
of Great Britain, and accused them of 
perfidy and breach of faith for not recog- 
nizing and fulfilling the stipidations.^' 
Idem. Dec. 28, 1809. 

A folio volume might be filled with such frothy, elaborate, 
and anti- American defences of the British, and inculpations of 
the United States' government. But I feel satisfied that I have 
produced enough ; that none but the wilfully blind can deny, that 
no cause could ever boast of more ardent, more zealous, or more 
industrious advocates than the cause of Great Britain has expe- 
rienced in Boston, New-York, and Philadelphia; and that there 



BEFORE REJECTION. 

pie a perpetual irritation against the 
government of Great Britain ; we ai"e 
happy to find that Mr. Madison has 
more libei'al views. 

Fed. Rep. June 10, 1809. 
" Peace with England The 7iiar 
party and French partizans are throxvn 
into complete confusio7i. The perseve- 
rance of the Eastern States, aided by 
the returning sense of a formidable 
body of the people to the Southward, 
have DRIVEN AD]VnXISTRATION 
FROM ITS GROUND. Since Mr. 
Jefferson has retired in disgrace into 
private life, his successor has been com- 
pelled to abandon the ndnous policy un- 
der ivhich the country has so long suf- 
fered. With the magnanimity and 
frankness characteristic of a great and 
enlightened nation, England made a 
second attempt to renew the terms of 
amity and peace between the two nations. 
The particulars of the correspondence 
between Mr. Erskine and the secreta- 
ry of state are given in this day's pa- 
per. It proves what we have so of- 
ten repeated, and which has ever been, 
stubbornly denied by the democrats, 
that Gh'eat Britain was always infiuen- 
ced by a sincere desire to accommodate 
herwifortnnate differences with America. 
The preservation of the country has 
gi'own out of the efforts of tlie minori- 
ty of congi'ess." 

Idem, April 21, 1809. 
" We shall not stop to inqiare whe- 
ther the spirited and vigorous measures 
of New England — their determined 
pubhc declarations that they would 
not submit to an imnecessary and de- 
structive war, have induced the admin- 
istration to listen to the same terms which 
Great Britain has always been ready to 
offer, and to which xve have -uniformly con- 
tended she was sincereht disposed." 

Boston Gaz. April, 1809. 



180 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 31, 

never was an administration pursued with more remorseless vi- 
rulence, and with less semblance of justice, than Mr. Madison's 
has been in this instance. 

After the reader has carefully perused those wretched attempts 
to palliate the miserable folly and madness of the British minis- 
try in the rejection of such an advantageous and honourable ar- 
rangement of the differences between the two nations, and to 
transfer from that ministry the high degree of odium it so justly 
deserved, to the administration of the American government, I 
beg he will attentively examine the following view of the sub- 
ject, taken from Bell's Weekly Messenger, of which the truth 
and candour are entitled to the highest approbation : 

" But the point of fact is, that the disavowal of Air. Erskine's act is of a 
piece with tlie general conduct of England towards America. Whenever cir- 
cumstances have in any way admitted it, our tone towards America has always 
been insulting-, and our conduct every thing but friendly. Every new hope on 
the continent ; every straw to the drowning expectations of Europe has but 
aggi-avated this unworthy sentiment. In our prosperity we have bullied Ame- 
rica; and when things are not so well with us, vve^have vented our strife in in- 
jurious language and unworthy conduct towards her. Whilst there were any 
hopes in Spain, America could get nothing direct ft-om us. But disappointment 
brought us to our senses, and the negociation was renewed. TJie coalition 
war on the continent has since broke out, and we begin to repent of our con- 
descension. 

" In this manner has the American negociation been on and off, during some 
j'eai's. — Our demands rising with our liopesand prosperity ,_and our moderation 
co-existent with our disappointment."* 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Impressment of American seamen. Plea of James Madison. Of 
John S^d?icfj Adams. Of Win. Cobbett. Of Weekly Register. 

AN idea is very prevalent, that the impressment of our sea- 
men bv the British vessels of war is a grievance of little mo- 
ment, to which the malice entertained by our administration 
against England, has attached an importance of which it is utter- 
ly undeserving. Hundreds of thousands of our citizens have 
been duped into the belief, that this item of grievance was creat- 
ed under Mr. Jefferson, or at least incalculably exaggerated by 
him and his successor. Never was there a more egregious error. 
Never was fraud more successful in propagating — never was fa- 
tuitous credulity more deceived in believing — a tale as foreign 
from the truth as Erebus is from Heaven. 

Mr. Madison has been ten thousand times cursed for his 
folly and wickedness in involving this country in war for the 
purpose of securing a few seamen, said to be vagabond English, 
Irish, and Scotchmen, the scum of the earth, from the claims ot 
their lawful prince. It has been asserted that few or none of the 
natives of this country are impressed — that when such an acci- 

* The chief part of the cxti-acts in this chapter are taken from " Things as 
they are," written and published by II. Niles, editor of the Weekly Register, 



cEiP. 31.] nrPRESSMENT. 181 

dent takes place^ redress is easily had — and further, that Eng- 
land is, and has at all times been, ready to make any arrange- 
ment whereby our sailors may be guarded against impressment, 
provided she can be secured against the loss ol hers. 

These assertions are utterly false. From the commencement 
of the war of the French revolution, to the late declaration of 
hostilities, this has been a constant, unceasing subject of recla- 
mation and complaint to the British government, as well under 
the administrations of General Washington and Mr. Adams, as 
imder those of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. And disgrace- 
ful, dishonourable, and infamous, would it have been to any of 
the presidents, had they been deaf to the complaints, and callous 
to the sufferings, of the American slaves, stolen by force and 
fraud from their families, and freedom, and favoured country, 
to perish, fighting the battles of their enslavers. 

" The practice has no parallel, either for atrocity or extent, in 
any thing of modern times, but the business of negro stealing 
on the coast of unfortunate Africa."* 

I submit to the reader the following eloquent and unanswer- 
able pleas against this nefarious practice. They so far transcend 
anv thing I could myself write on the subject, that I shall de- 
serve thanks for sparing my own, and substituting these lucub- 
rations. 

From the instructions of James Madison, esq. secretary of state, to James Moiiroe, 
esq. minister plenipotentiary at the court of London. 

" Were it allowable that British subjects should be taken out of American 
vessels on the high seas, it mig-ht at least be required that7/)e proof of t/ieir al- 
le^iance slmddlieon t/w British side. This ob\-ious and just rule is however re- 
versed. And every seaman on board, though going- from an American port, 
sailing under an Arnerican flag, and sometimes even speaking an idiom proving 
him riot to be a British subject, is presumed to be such, unless proved to be an 
American citizen. It may be safely affirmed, that iliisis an outrage luhich has no 
precedent, and which Great Britain -would be among the last nations in tlie world to 
suffer, if offered to her own subjects, and her own flag. 

" Great Britain has the less to say on the subject, as it is in direct contradic- 
tion to t/ie principles on ivliich she proceeds in other cases. Whilst she claims and 
seizes on the high seas, her own subjects voluntai-ily serving in American ves- 
sels, she has constantly given, when she could gi\e, as a reason for not dis- 
charging from her service American citizens, that tliey had voluntarily engaged 
in it. Nay more, whilst she impresses her own subjects from the American 
service, although they have been settled, and married, and naturalized in the 
United States, sl\e constantly refuses to release from her's, American seamen 
pressed into it, whenever she can give for a reason, that they are either settled, 
or married, within her dominions. "Thus, when the voluntary consent of the indi- 
vidual favours her pretensions, s/ie pleads the validity of that consent, When the 
voluntary consent of the individual stands in the way of her pretensions, it goes for 
notliing. When marriage or residence can be pleaded in her favour, she avails 
herself of the plea. Wlien marriage, residence, and naturalization are against 
her, no respect whatever is paid to either. SJie takes, by force, her own subjects 
■^voluntarily serving in our vessels. She keeps by force American citizens involuU' 
iarily serving in her's. More flagrant inconsistencies caimot be imagined.''' 

* Weekly Register. 
O. B. 55 



182 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 31. 

Never, since the world was formed, was there a stronger, or 
more irresistible train of argument, or collection of facts, than 
in the preceding paragraph. Never were flagrant injustice, out- 
rage, and violence more completely established, and eternally 
shut out from the possibility of defence. 

From a letter of John Q. Adains, esq. to JI. G. Olis, esq- 
"The impressed American citizens, however, upon duly authenticated proof, 
are delivered up. Indeed ! how unreasonable then were complaint ! how et- 
fectiiai a remedy for the wrongs ! an American vessel, bound to an European 
port, has two, three, or four native Americans impressed by a British man of 
war, bound to the East or West Indies. "When tlie American captain arrives 
at ills port of destination, he makes his protest, and sends it to the nearest Ame- 
rican minister or consul. When he returns home, he transmits ttie duplicate of 
his protest to the Secretary of State. In process of time, the names of the im- 
pressed men, and of the ship into whicli tliey have been impressed, tire receiv- 
ed by the agent in London. He makes his demand that the men may be de- 
livered up — the lords of the admiralty, after a considerable time for enquiry 
and advisement, return for answer, that the ship is on a foreign station, and their 
lordships can therefore take nt further steps in the matter — or, that the ship has 
been taken, and that the men have been received in exchang-e for French pri- 
soners — or, that they had no protections (tlie impressing' officers often havmg 
taken them from the men) — or, that the men -were probably British subjects ,■ or, 
that they had entered, and taken the bounty ; (to which the officers know how 
to reduce them) — or, thai they have been married, or settled in Englajid. In all 
these, cases, witliout further ceremony, their dischai'ge is refused. Sometimes, 
then' lordships, in a vein of humour, inform the agent that the man has been 
disc'iarged as unserviceable. Sometimes, in a sterner tone, they say he is an 
impostor. Or, periiaps by way of consolation to his relatives and friends, they 
report that he has fallen in battle, against nations in amity tvith his country. 
Sometimes the\- coolly return, that there is no such man onboard the ship : and 
\vhat has become of him, the agonies of a wife and children in his native land 
may be left to conjecture. When all these and many other apologies for re- 
fusal fail, tlie native American seaman is discharged — and when, by the charita- 
ble aid of his government, he has found his way home, he comes to be inform- 
ed, that all is as it should be — that thejiiimber of his fellow sufferers is small — that 
it ivas impossible to distiiiguish him from an Englishman — arid that he -was delivered 
vp, on duly authenticated proof." 

Extract from Cubbett''s Register. 

" Our ships of war, when they meet an American vessel at sea, board her, 
and take out of her by force, any seamen, whom our officei-s assert to be British 
subjects. There is no rule by which they are bound. They act at discretion ; 
and the consequence is, that great numbers of native Americans have been im- 
pressed, and great numbers of them are 7iow in our navy. The total number so 
held at any one time cannot, perhaps, be ascertained ; hnt from a statement pub - 
lished in America, it appears that ,TTr. Lyman, the late consul here, .stated the num- 
ber, about two years ago, at FOURTEEN THOUSAND. That many of these 
mat have died on board our ships — that many have been wounded — that many 
have been killed in action — and that many have been worn out in the service, there 
can be no doubt. Some obtain their release through the application of the 
American consul here : and of these the sufferings have in many instances been 
very great. There have been instances where men have thus got free after 
having been flogged through tlie fleet for desertion. 

" But it has been asked, whether we are not to take our sailors where we find 
them ? To which America answers, yes ; but take only your own : " take," 
said Mr. Lyman, " your whole pound of flesh ,• hut not a drop of blood" She says 
that she wishes not to have in her ships any British sailors : and she is willing 
to give them up, whenever the fact of their being British sailors can be proved. 
Lettiicm, she says, he brought before any magistrate, or any pubhc civil autho- 
ritj', in any one of your own ports, at home or abroad; and she is williu|f to 



CHAP. 31.] IMPRESSMENT. 183 

abide by the decision. But, let hot men be seized in her ships upon the high 
seas (and sometimes at the mouths of her own rivers) where there is no body- 
to judge between the parties, and -ivhere the Brttish officer- going on board is at 
once ACCUSER, WITNESS, JUDGE, and CAPTOR !" 

From JViles's (Veeklii JRegister, vol. 3, page 303. 
"If the most dignified officer in the naval service of our enemy were to plun- 
der neutral vessels of a a box of cod-fs/i, or a bale of cotton, on suspicion that it 
was even enemy's property, it might cost him his whole fortune, with an igno- 
minious dismissal. The law of nations allows him to send in the vessel for adju- 
dication : and it becomes him to prove the fact he suspected. If he fail in this, 
he is often mulcted in heavy damages by the courts of law of his own countrj-. 
But in the business of man-stealing, he is Judge andjurij — he takes when and where 
he pleases, and is irresponsible for his conduct. If complaint be made, he silences 
it by the broad plea, " that his majesty wanted men .■" and if the man stolen is re- 
stored to liberty after years of dangers and servitude, without one cent for his 
hazard and toils, tliere are knaves who produce his case in evidence of " British 
inagnanimity .'" 

After the reader has carefully perused the preceding argu- 
ments, I request he will read and compare the sentiments of JVIr. 
Pickering on the subject of impressment at two different periods, 
the first when he was secretary of state, and the second when he 
was senator of the United States. 

Mr. Pickering, 1796, Mr. Pickering, 1808. 

" IVie British naval officers often im- " The evil we complain of arises 

press SWEDES, DANES, and OTHER from the impossibility of always distin- 

FOREIGNERS, from the vessels of the gjdshing the persons of two nations who 

Z7..5?«/tfs. THEY HAVE EVEN SOME- a few years since were one people, 

TIMES IMPRESSED FRENCHMEN! who exhibit the same manners, speak 

If there should be time to make out tlie same language, and possess similar 

the copy of a protest lately received, featiu-es.f 

it siiall be enclosed, describing the *' The British ships of war, agreea- 

impress of A DANE and A PORTU- bly to a right claimed and exercised 

GUESE. Tliis surely is an abuse easy for ages; a right claimed and exercised 

to coi-rect. They cannot pretend an in- dui'ing the whole of the adminlsti-ations 

ability to distingidsh these foreigners of Washington, of Adams, and of Jef- 

from their own subjects. They may ruith ferson, continue to take soHje q/" Me £?•/- 

as much reasonrob the American vessels tish seamen found on board our merchant 

of the property or merchandise nf the vessels,, and with them a small sumber 

Swedes, Danes, or Portuguese, as seize of ours, froivi the ijipossibilitt op 

and detain in their service the subjects of distinguishing EjfGLisHMEjr from ci- 

those nations fouiul on board American tizens of the United States."}" 

resse/s The president is extremely anx- "It is perfectly well known that 

ious to have this business of impress Great Britain desires to obtaijs 

placed on a reasonable footing."* only her own subjects.^- 

I cannot allow these extracts to pass without imploring the 
reader to ponder well on their contents — to compare them to- 
gether carefully. — The history of the human race, from the earli- 
est records of time, furnishes no stronger instance of contradic- 
tion, or inconsistency. Mr. Pickering, when his station as se- 
cretary of state, rendered it a duty to defend the rights of his 
country, clearly and explicitly asserts, that the British impressed 

* Letter from Timothy Pickering, esq. secretary of state, to Rufus King, esq. 
minister at the court of London, dated October 26, 1796. 

t Letter from Timothy Pickei'ing, to honourable James Sullivan, governor of 
Massachusetts, February 1808, page 13. 



184 POLITICAL OLIVE BRAKCH. [chap. 32. 

Swedes, Danes, Portuguese, and even Frenchmen, from on 
board our vessels. Afterwards, to answer the purposes of faction, 
he states, in direct contradiction to facts of the utmost notorie- 
ty, that they impressed Americans merely through " the impos- 
sibility of distinguishing them from their own subjects !" What 
an awful perversion of facts ! 

chaptp:r XXXII. 

Impressment during the admi?iistration ofgerieral Washmgton. 

Extract of a letter from T. Jefferson, esq. secretary of state, to Thomas Pincknetj, 
ininister plenipotentiary of the United States at London, 

Department of State, June 11, 1792, 
«' The peculiar custom in Eng-land of impressing seamen on every appcaranc'e 
of war, will occasionally expose our seamen to peculiar oppressions and vexa- 
tions. It will be expedient that you take proper opportunities, in the mean 
time, of conferring with tlie minister on this subject, in order to form some ar- 
ran""ement for the protection of our seamen on those occasions. We entirely 
reject the mode which was the subject of conversation between Mr. Morris and 
him ; which was, that our seamen should carry about them certificates of their 
citizenship. This is a condition nevei- yet snhmitted to by any nation; one, with 
\Vhich seamen would never have the precaution to comply ; tlie casualties of 
their calling would expose them to the constant destruction or loss of this pa- 
per evidence ; and thus the British government tuoidd be annedivith legal authority 
to impress the ivhole of our seanmi. The simplest rule will be, that the vessel 
being American, shall be evidence that the seamen on board of her are such. 
If they apprehend that our vessels might thus become asylums for the fugitives 
of their own nation from impress gangs, the number of men to be protected by 
a vessel may be limited by her tonnage ; and one or two officers only be per- 
mitted to enter the vessel in order to examine tlie number ; but na press g-aTig 
should be allowed ever to go on board an American vessel, till after it shall be found 
that there are more than the stipidated mimher on board, nor till after the master 
;5hall liave refused to deliver the supernumeraries (to be named by himself) to the 
press officer who has come on board for that purpose ; and even then the Ame- 
rican consul shall be called in. In order to urge a settlement of this point before 
u new occasion may arise, it may not be amiss to draw their attention to the 
Jjeadiar irritation excited on tlie last occasion, and the difficvlty of avoiding our 
■makiiis- immediate reprisals on their seamen here. You will be so good as to com- 
municate to me what shall pas» on this subject, and it may be an article of con- 
vention to be entered into either there or liere." 

Fro7n the same to the same. 

October 12, 1792. 
"1 enclose you a copy of a letter from Messrs. Blow andMclhaddo, mer- 
chants, of Virginia, complaining of the taking away of their sailors, on the coast 
of Africa, by the commander of a British armed vessel. So many instances of 
this kind have happened, that it is quite necessary their government should ex- 
plain themselves on the subject, and be led to disavow and punish such conduct. 
t leave to your discretion to endeavour to obtain this satisfaction by such friend- 
ly discussions as may be most likely to produce the desired efiect, and secure 
to our commerce that protection against British violence, which it has never 
cxpei-ienced from anv other nation. No law forbids the seaman of any nation, 
TO engage in time of "peace, on board a foreign vessel : no law authorises such 
seaman "to break his contract, nor the armed vessels of his nation to interpose 
force for his rescue." 

From the same to the same. 

J\''ovember 6, 1792, 

" T enclose you now the copy of a letter from Mr. Pintard, our consul at 

Madeira, exhibiting another attempt at the practice on which 1 wrote to youin 



CHAP. 32.] IMI^RESSMENT. 183 

my last, made by captain Hargood, of the British frigate Hyxna, to take seamen 
from on board an American vessel bound to the East Indies It is unnecessary 
todevelope to you the inconveniencies of this conduct, and the impossibility of 
letting it go on. 1 hope ijou -will be able to make the British ministry sentsible qf 
the ■necessity of punishing the past and preventing the future." 

Extract of a note from Mr. Jay, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 
of the United iS'tates at London, to lord Grenville, secretary of foreign affairs^ 

dated 

London, July 30, 1809. 

" The undersigned finds it also to be his duty to present, that tlie in-egulari- 
ties before mentioned extend not only to the capture and condemnation of 
American vessels and propei-ty, and to unusual and personal severities, but even 
to the impressment of Jjmerican citizens, to serve on board of armed vessels. He 
forbears to dwell on the injuries done to those unfortunate individuals, or on the emo- 
tions -which they must naturally excite, either in the bi easts of the nation to -which they 
belong, or of the just and humane of every country. His reliance on the justice and 
benevolence of his majesty, leads him to indulge a pleasing expectation, that 
orders will be given, that Americans so circumstanced be immediately hbera- 
ted, and that persons honoured with liis majesty's commissions do in future ab- 
stain from similar violences. 

" It is with cordial satisfaction that the undersigned reflects on the impres- 
sions whicli such an equitable and conciliatory measure would make on the peo- 
ple of the United States, and how naturally they would inspire and cherish those 
sentiments and dispositions which never fail to preserve as well as to produce 
respect, esteem, and friendship." 

Extract from the instmctions giveji by Timothy Pickering, esq. secretary of state, 
to Bufus King, esq. minister at the court of London. 

June 8, 1796. 

The long arid fndtless attempts that have been made to protect Jmerican sea- 
men from British impresses, prove that the subject is in its nature difficult. 

"The simplest rule would be, that the vessel being American, should be evi- 
dence that the seamen are such. But it will be an important point gained, if, on 
the high seas, our flag can protect those of whatever nation, who sail under it. 
And for this, humanity, as well as interest, powerfully plead. Merchant vessels 
carry no more hands than their safety renders necessary. To -withdraxu any of them 
«n the ocean, is to expose both lives and property to destruction. We have a right 
then to expect, that the British government will make no difficulty in acceding- 
to this very interesting provision. And the same motives should operate with 
nearly equal force, to procure for us the like exemption in all the British colo- 
nies, but especially in the West Indies. In the latter the consequence of an im- 
press is the detention of the vessel. By the detention, the vessel is injured or destroy- 
ed by theioorms, and the remiiant of the crew exposed to the fatal diseases of the cli- 
mate. Hence a longer detention ensues. The voyage becomes unprofitable to 
the merchant; and humanity deplores the loss of many valuable lives. But tliere 
is another cogent reason for an exemption from impresses in the British co- 
lonies—that THE PRACTICE WILL BE, AS IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN, SUB- 
JECT TO MONSTROUS ABUSES ; and the supreme power is so remote, that 
THE EVILS BECOME IRREMEDIABLE, BEFORE REDRESS CAN EVEN 
BE SOUGHT FOR. 

" To guai-d against abuses on the part of American citizens, every master of 
a vessel, on his arrival in any port of the British colonies, maybe required to 
report his, crew, at the proper office. If, afterwards, any addition be made to 
them by British subjects, these may be taken away. In the ports of Great Bri- 
tain and Ireland, the im]5ress of British subjects, found on board of our vessels, 
must doubtless be admitted. Rut this should be controlled by regulations to 
prevent InsuUs and injuries, and to administer prompt veYic^ -where American 
citizens f which ivill assuredly happen J shall be mistaken for JJritish subjects. 

" The7'e are three classes of men, concerning whom there can be no dijficidty. 1. 
JVative Amtrican citizens. 2. American citizens, ivherever bom, who xvere such 
at the definitive treaty of peace. 3. Foreigners, other than British subjects, sail- 



18S 



POLITlfcAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 33. 



mo- in Jmerican vessels, and whose persons ought to be as sacred, as it respects the 
British, as those of native citi-em. The 4tli class consists of British born sub- 
iects, but who, or many of whom, may have become citizens subsequent to the 
treaty of peace, or who hereafter may be admitted to the rights of citizens. It 
is this class alone, about which any pretence of riglit to impress can be made.^ 
With regard to these, it luav be attempted to protect them, as well m tmie ot 
war as of i^eace, in the following cases : First, when they shall have served in 
American vessels, public or private, for the same term in wiiich foreigners 
servin"'in British vessels would acquire the rights of British subjects, which is 
understood to be three vears ; or secondly, if so much cannot be obtained, vvhen 
those persons, originally British subjects, shall have resided five years in the 
United States, and been formally admitted to the rights of citizens, according 

to our laws. . . 

"It must often happen that sailors will lose their certificates; provision 
should therelbrc be made for the admission of other reasonable proof of their 
citizensliip, such as their own oaths, with those of the masters, iViates, or other 
creditable witnesses. The rolls of the crews, or shipping papers, may also be 
authenticated bv the collectors of the customs; an I then they ought to be ad- 
mitted as of cqiial validity witli the individual cexlificates." 

From the same to the same. 

September 10. 1796. 

« I enclose a letter from Francis S. Taylor, deputy collector of Norfolk, re- 
specting four impressed seamen. It appears to be written with candour, and 
merits attention. If, as the captain of the Prevoyante (Wemyss) says, the dig- 
nitv of the British government will not permit an enquiry on board their ships 
for American seamen, their doom is fijced for the war ,- and thus THE RIGHTS 
OF AN INDEPENDENT NATION ARE TO BE SACRIFICED TO BRI- 
TISH DIGNITY. Justice requii'es that such cnqviiries and examinations be 
made; because, otherwise, the hberatlon of our seamen will be impossible. For 
the British goveimment, then, to make professions of respect to the rights of our citi- 
zens, a>id willingness to release them, and yet deny the only means of ascertaining 
those rights, is an insulting tantalism. 

^' If the Britisii. government have any regard to our rights, any respect for our 
nation, and place any value on our friendship, tliey will even facilitate to ns the means 
of releasing our oppressed citizens. The subject of our impressed seamen makes 
a part of our instructions ; but the president now renews his desire that their 
relief may engage your special attention." 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Impressment during' the admimstration of Mr. Adams. Letter 
from Ritfus King. From Silas Talbot. From Timothy Pick, 
ering. Instructions of fudge 3Iarshall to Rufus King. 

I NOW proceed, in chronological order, to state the views of 
our government upon — the remonstrances of our public officers 
against — and the redress afforded or refused in— the odious out- 
rage of impressment, during the administration of Mr. Adams. 

I begin with Rufus King, esq. whose name, from the grotmd 
he now takes in politics, is a tower of strength on this stibject. 

" The subject [of impressment] in all its details, has come under my obsen-a- 
tion ; and its importance, 1 confess, is much greater than 1 had supposed it- 
Instead of a few, and these in many instances equivocal cases, I have, since the 
month of July last, made apphcation for the discharge from British men of war, 
of two hundred and seventy-one seamen, who, stating themselves to be Ameri- 
cans, have claimed my interference : of this number eighty-six have by the ad- 
miralty been ordered to be discharged : thirty -seven more have been detained 



CHAP. 33] IMPRESSMENT. 187 

as British subjects, or as American volunteers, or for want of proof that they 
are Americans ; and to my apphcations for the discharge of the remaining- one 
hundred and forty -eiglit, I have received no answer ; the ships on board of 
wliich these seamen were detained, having-, in many instances, sailed before an 
examination was made, in consequence of my apphcations. 

"It is certain, that some of those who have applied to me, are not American 
citizens. BUT THE EXCEPTIONS AKE IN MY OPINION FEW ; and the 
evidence, exclusive of certificates, has been such as in most cases to satistV me 
that THE APPLICANTS WERE REAL A:\IERICANS, who had been forced 
into the British service ; and who with singular constancy have generally per- 
severed in refusing pay and bounty, though in many instances they have been 
in service moi-e than two years. 
Timothy Pickering, esq. Hecretarij of State. RUFUS KING. 

To this document, I most earnestly invite and invoke the at- 
tention of the American nation, and of all the people of Christ- 
endom. It affords the most conclusive defence of the strong 
ground taken on this subject by the administration ; and sets the 
seal of eternal contradiction on the assertion, so often repeated, 
that the poor, miserable, enslaved, and by-his-country-abandon- 
ed sailor — the pride — the glorv — the bulwark of that ungrate- 
ful country — is " readibj surrendered^ vchen impressed by mis- 
take.'''' Let no man ever dare again to hazard the assertion. It 
is not true. It never was true. 

Mr. King tells a plain story. He applied for the emancipa- 
tion of 271 American slaves, forced to fight for their enslavers. 
Not quite a third were discharged : and more than one half of 
the whole number were debarred of any chance of redress, by 
a plain and simple process ; the vessels, on board of which they 
were, having " in many instances sailed before an examination 
was had in consequence of his application." 

Extract of a letter from Silas Talbot, esq. 

Kingston, Julij 4, 1797. 
" Admiral Sir Hyde Pai-ker, having gained information, that my application 
to the civil authority of this island, to obtain the release of such American citi- 
zens as were found to be detained on board his majesty's sliips of war, had been 
attended with some success, he immediately issued a general order to all cap- 
tains and commanders of ships and vessels of war, directing them not to obei; 
any -lurit of habeas corpus, nor suffer any men to leave their ships in coiiseqnence 
of any such writ. Since the above-mentioned order was issued, writs have been 
obtained against captain Elphinstone, of the Ttu-tar frigate, to produce three 
Americans, named in the writ, before the chief justice ; and against captain 
Foster, of the Albicore, to produce four ; and also, against captain Otway, of 
the Ceres frigate, to produce twenty Americans, in like manner before the 
chief justice. All those writs were served: but none of them was obeyed. 
Attachments against the said captains have been ordered by the court : and a 
writ of attachment against captain Otway was taken out fifteen days since. But 
the marshall has not been able, as he says, to serve it on captain Otway : and 
from all tliat I can learn, there is not any probability that he will serve the writ : 
so that the laws in tlds island, it seems, cannot be administered for the relief of 
American citizens, who are held in British slaveri/ ,• manv of whom, as thexj write 
me from on board captain Otway's ship, HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO THE 
GANGWAY, AND WHIPPED, FOR WRITING TO THEIR AGENT TO 
GET THEM DISCHARGED !" 

SILAS nVLBOT. 
Timothy Pickering, esq. Secretary of State. 



1S8 POIJTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. , [chaf, 33. 

Here again we find what redress the American slave had to 
expect. He was brought to the gangway, and ignominiously 
SCOURGED for daring to try to have his case taken into the 
cognizance of the American agent for the relief of impressed 
seamen ! ! ! 

Extract of a letter from the Secretary of State. 

August 15, 1797* 
" If any naval officer shall have committed such an outrage on any American 
seamen, as to BRING THEM TO THE GANGWAY, as you mention, or to in- 
flict any kind of pumshment on them, especially for seeking opportunities to 
inform you of their situation, for the purpose of obtaining the just relief to which 
they are entitled, pray endeavour to get proofs of the fact, that I may make it 
the subject of a special representation to the British goveriunent." 

Silas Talbot, esq. TIMOTHY I'lCKERING. 

Extract of a Letter from the Same. 

Trenton, October 3, 1797. 

"Lord Grenville's observations on the act of congress for the reUef and pro- 
tection of American seamen, present difliculties which demand consideration 
at the ensuing session. But your reasoning in your letter to his lordship of tlie 
thirtietii of last November, is conclusive against tlie British pretences to retain 
real American seamen who are married in their dominions, or who have vo- 
luntarily entered on board British vessels. It behoves the honour and faith of the 
British government, to adhere to their principle on natural allegiance luholly, or to 
renounce it wholly : and an answer on this point would have become his lord- 
ship's candour. 

"I consider colonel Talbot's agency in the West Indies to be no longer very 
important. The rigid conduct of admiral sir Hyde Parker (who from the begin- 
ning has thrown obstacles in the way) leaves but Utile room to get our seamen re- 
leased. The opp')sition of the officers in general, induced colonel Talbot to 
take out writs of habeas corpus at Jamaica, by which, directly or in their con- 
sequences, he obtained the discharge of nearly ffi y seamen. But admiral Parker 
has for some tmie past forbidden his officers to pay any attention to such lurits .■ 
and colonel Talbot informed me that some of our seamen have been punished for at- 
tempting to send letters to hinj to inform of their situation. 

"Mr. Liston assured me, that the British officers have orders not to impress 
any American seamen, and of course not to retain against their will any already 
impressed : but if they persist in obstructing every c/ianncl of information and 
proof of tlicir citizenship, such orders are, and ivill continue deceptive." 

iinfns King, esq. TIMOTHY PICKERING. 

Extract of a letter from Rufus King, esq. 

London, .March 15, 1799. 

" I mentioned our dissatisfaction with the continuation of the practice of 
taking out of our ships, met on the main ocean, such of their crews as did not 
possess certificates of American citizenship; denying, as I have often done, in 
former conferences, upon the same subject, any right on the part of Great Bri- 
tain, upon which the practice could be founded ; and suggesting that our ships 
of tear, by permission of our government, might -with equal right, pursue the same 
practice toward their merchantmen .• 

" Tliat not only seamen who spoke the English language, and who were 
evidentlv English or American subjects, but also ALL DANISH, SWEDISH, 
AND OTHER FOREIGN SEAMEN, WHO COULD NOT RECEIVE AME- 
RICAN PROTECTIONS, WERE INDISCRIMINATELY TAKEN FROM 
THEIR \ OLUNTARV SERVICE IN OUR NEUTRAL EMPLOY, and forced 
into the war in the naval service of Great Britain : 

« That on this subiect WE HAD AGAIN AND AGAIN OFFERED TO CONV 
CUR IN A CONVENTION, WHICH WE THOUGHT PRACTICABLE TO 
BE FORMED, AND WHICH SHOULD SETTLE THESE QUESTIONS IN 
A MANNER THAF WOULD BE SATISFACTORY FOR ENGLAND AND 
SAFE FOR US. 



CHAP. 23.] IMPRESSMENT. 189 

" That to decline such a convention, and to persist in a practice which we 
were persuaded could not be vindicated, especially to the extent it was carried, 
seemed less equitable and moderate than we had a rig-ht to expect : 

" Lord Grenville stated no precise principle upon which he supposed this 
practice could be justified : aud the conversation upon this point, like many- 
others upon the same subject, ended without a prospect of satisfaction. The 
French and Spaniarck, and everij other nation, might pursue the same conduct as 
rightfully us G-reat Britain does. With respect /c//or«;g« seamen in our employ, 
this government has, if I recollect, yielded the point, though their oivn officers C07i. 
tinuc the practice. AVe are assured all Americans sliall be discharged on appH- 
cation for that purpose, and that orders to this effect have been given to their 
naval commanders; but tfus is far short of satisfaction ; mdeeJ, TO ACQl lESCE 
IX IT, IS TO GIVE UP THE RIGHT." RUFUS IvING. 

Thomas Pickering, esq. secretary of state. 

I beg the reader will most carefully and attentively re-peruse 
the second and third paragraphs of the preceding document. 

The second confirms the statement made by Mr. Pickering, 
when secretary of state, that Danes, Swedes and other foreigners, 
were impressed out of our vessels — and utterly contradicts and 
disproves his recent declaration, that the impressment of our 
seamen arose from the difficulty of discriminating between an 
Englishman and an American. What a farcical procedure it 
Avould be, to seize by mistake upon Danes, and Swedes, and 
Portuguese, as Englishmen! 

But the fact established by the third paragragh is still more 
important. It is, that this country " had again and again offered 
to settle these questions in a manner that would be satisfactory 
for England and safe for the United States :" and further, that 
" England had declined such a convention." And yet, Mr. 
Pickering has confidently stated the contrary, in direct opposi- 
tion to the fact, and to his own knowledge and experience. — I 
request attention to his declaration on this subject : — 

" Our government well know, that Great Britain is perfectly ivilling to adopt 
any arrangement that can be devised that -vill secure to her service the seamai who 
are her own subjects, and at the same time, exempt ours from impressment."* 

" JV man who regards the tndh, will question the disposition of the British go- 
rernment to adopt any arrangement that will secure to Great Britaiyi the service of 
her own subjects."\ 

These facts and assertions scorn the aid of comment. The 
dullest and most Boeotian reader must be struck with the aston- 
ishing contradiction and inconsistency they display. ^ 

With Mr. Pickering I am almost wholly unacquainted. He 
is far advanced . in years — and has held the highest and most 
confidential offices. " He has been honoured with the regard and 
esteem of the party to which he belongs, of whom he is consi- 
dered as one of the leaders. He has asserted of himself, 

• Letter of the honourable Timothy Pickering to his excellency James Sulli- 
van, governor of Massachusetts, February 16, 1808, page 1-3. 

•j- Idem, page 8. 
O. B. 26 



190 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 33, 

" I may claim some share of attention and credit ; that share which is due to 
the man who defies the world to point, in the whole course of a long^ and pub- 
lic nie, at one instance of deception ; at a single departure from tiiith."* 

He and his friends are called on to reconcile the above state- 
ments with the facts of the case. It will give pleasure if he 
can, at the close of his long career, jitstify himself on this point 
to his own conscience, and to his own comitry, before whose 
bar he is thus solemnly cited. 

One other observation, and I distniss this letter. — Mr. King 
explicitly states, and with perfect justice, that to acquiesce in 
the idea that the surrender of our seamen is a satisfaction for the 
injury, is to admit the right of impressment, against which he 
most zealously and patriotically contended. 

Extract from a report of Timothy Pickefing, esq. secretary of state, to Cons^ress. 

December 9, 1799. 
" Admiral Parker paid no attention to tlie agent's' application on behalf of 
our impressed seamen ; the admiral having determined, and informed the agent 
of the dctenmination, that no proofs would be regarded by him, luiless specially 
presented by the American government through the British minister ; nor then, 
but in the single case of native Americans. Under this determination there wiE 
be detained, not only the subjects of his Bi-itannic majesty, naturalised since the 
peace of 1783 ; but all who, born elsewhere, were tlicn resident in, and had 
become citizens of the United States ; also, all foreigners, as GERMANS, 
SWEDES, DANES, PORTUGUESE, AND ITALIANS, who voluntarily serve 
in the vessels of the United States. And it is a fact that SUCH FOREIGNERS 
HAVE FREQUENTLY BEEN IMPRESSED ; although their language and 
other circumstances demoustrate THAT THEY WERE' NOT BRITISH SUB- 
JECTS." 

Here again we have Timothy Pickering, secretary of state, 
versus Timothy Pickering, senator of the United States. As 
secretary, he bears the strongest testimony on the subject of the 
latitudinarian principles on w)iich impressment is conducted. 

The subject strikes me in a new point of light. An Ameri- 
can vessel is met at sea by a British frigate, — The crew are 
brought trembling before that right reverend and worshipful 
magistrate, the lieutenant. All who cannot speak plain English 
are seized ; — as, being French, Germans, Danes, Italians, or 
Hottentots, they cannot be natives of the United States, and are 
not therefore entitled to protection from our flag. This scruti- 
ny is soon over. Another then takes place. And of those who 
speak plain English, he seizes as many as he supposes, or pre- 
tends to suppose, to be British sul^jects ! ! ! And yet we huve 
men in elevated stations who defend this practice ! Would to 
God that every n\an, how high, or how proud, or how exalted 
soever he be, who is an advocate for impressment, were himself 
impressed and enslaved on board a British man of war, with 
hard biscuit and junk beef for food, and a cat-o'-nine tails to 

* Letter of the honourable Timothy Pickering to his excellency James Sulli- 
van, governor of Massachusetts, Februaiy 16, 1808, page 13, 



CKAP. 33.] »rPRESS:SIENT. 191 

his back, to punish his refractory spirit, in case he dared to com- 
plain ! 

Extract of a letter from John Marshall, esq. secretary of state, to Rufiis King, esq. 
minister plcnipotentiarii of the United States at London, dated 

Dppartment of State, September 20, 1800. 

"The Impressment of our seamen is an injuVv of very serious magnitude, 
which deeply afFects the feeling's and the honour of the nation. 

" This valuable class of men is composed of natives and foreigners, who en- 
g^ge voluntarily in our service. 

"No rig-ht has been asserted to impress the natives of America. Tet they are 
impressed; they are dragged on board f British ships ofivar, luith evidence of citi- 
zenship in their hands, and forced by violence there to serve, until conclusive testi- 
rnonials of tlieir birth can be obtained. These must most generally be sought for 
on this side of the Atlantic. Inthe mean time, ACl'LNOWLEDGED VIOLENCE 
IS PRACTISED ON A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES, BY COMPEL- 
LING HIM TO ENGAGE AND CONTINUE IX FOREIGN SERVICE. Al- 
though the lords of tlie admiraltv uniformly direct their discharge on tlie pror 
chiction of this testimony ; YET MANY MUST PERISH, UNRELIEVED, 
AND ALL ARE DETAINED A CONSIDERABLE TIME, IN LAWLESS AND 
INJURIOUS CONFINEMENT. 

" It is the duty, as well as the right, of a friendly nation, to require that 
measuresbe taken by the British government to prevent the continued repe- 
tition of such violence by its agents. 'I'his can onlv be done bv punishing and 
frowning- on those who perpe\rate it. THE MERE RELEASE OF THE IN- 
JURED? AFTER A LONG COURSE OF SERVING AND SUFFERING, IS 
NO COMPENSATION FOR THE PAST, AND NO SECURITY FOR THE 
FUTUIJE. It is impossible not to believe that the decisive Intei-ference of the 
government in tliis respect, would prevent a practice, the continuance of which 
must inevitably produce discord between two nations, wliich ought to be the 
friends of each otlier. 

" Those seamen v/ho were born in a foreign cormtry, and have been adopted 
by this, were either the sul:)jects of Britain or some ofn.er power. 

" •' The right to impress those who were Briti.sh subjects has been asserted ; 
and the right to impress those of every other nation has not been disclaimed. 

" A'either the one practice nor the other can be justified. 

" With the naturahzation of foreigners, no other nation can interfere, fur- 
ther than the rights of that other are affected. The rights of Britain are cer- 
tainly not affected by the naturahzation of other than British subjects. Conse- 
quently, those persons, who, according to our laws, are citizens, must be so 
considered by Britain, and every other power not having a conflicting ciaunto 

"THE "united STATES, THEREFORE, REQUHIE POSITIVELY, 
TH\T THEIR SEAMEN WHO ARE NOT BRITISH SUBJECTS, WHE- 
THER BORN IN AMERICA OR ELSEWHERE, SHALL BE EXEAIPT 
• FROM IMPRESSMENT. 

" The case of British subjects, whether naturahzed or not, is more question- 
able ; but the right even to impress them is denied. The practice of the British 
government itself, may certainly, in a controversy with that government, be 
relied on The privileges it claims and exercises, may certainly be ceded to 
others. To deny this would be to deny the equality of nations, and to make 
it a question of power and not of right. . 

"If the practice of the British government may be quoted, that practice is 
to maintain and defend in their sea-service all those, of any nation, who have 
voluntarily engaged in it, or who, according to their laws, have become British 

subjects. , . , ^ , ^. - 

" AUen seamen, not British subjects, engaged in our merchant sen-nce, ougM 
to be equally exempt with citizens from impressments ; we have a right to en. 
ea^e them, and have a right to, and an Interest in, their persons, to the extent 
of the service contracted to be performed. Britain ^^«« ''"^t^^'^f ^..i(p Pn^° 
theirpevsonsoriothdrservice. TO TEAR THEM, THEN, FROM OUR POS^ 



192 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 33. 

SESSION IS AT THE SAIME TIIVIE AN INSULT AND AN INJLTRY. IT 
IS AN ACT OF VIOLENCE FOR WHICH THERE EXISTS , NO PALUA- 
TI\E. 

"We know well that the difficulty of distinguishing- between native Ameri- 
cans and British subjects, has been used with respect to natives, as an apology 
for the injuries complained of. It is not pretended that this apology can be ex- 
tended to the case of foreigners ; and with respect to nati\ es, we doubt the ex- 
istence of the difficulty alleged. We know well that among tliat class of peo- 
ple called seanien, we can readily distinguish between a native American, and 
a person i-aised to manhood in Great Britain or Ireland ; and we do not perceive 
any reason why the capacity of making this distinction should not be possessed 
in tlie same degree by one nation as by the other. 

" If therefore no regulation can be formed which shall effisctually secure all 
Seamen on board American merchantmen, we have a right to expect from the 
justice of the British government, from its regard for the friendship of the Uni- 
ted States and its own honour, that it will manifest the sincerity of its wishes to 
redress this offence, by punishing those who commit it. 

"We hope, however, tiiat an arrangement may be entered into, satisfactory 
and beneficial to both paities. The article which appears to have been trans- 
mitted by my predecessor, while it satisfies this country, will probably restore 
to the naval service of Great Britain a greater number of seamen than will be 
lost by it. Should we even be mistaken in this calculation, yet the difference 
cannot be put into competition with the mischief which may result from the ir- 
ritation justly excited by this practice, throughout the United States. The ex- 
tent and justice of the resentment it produces, may be estimated in Britain by 
inquiring what impressions would be made on them by similar conduct on the 
pait of this government. 

'• Should we impress from the merchant service of Britain not only Americans 
but foreigners, and even British subjects, how long would such a course of in- 
jury unredressed be permitted to pass unrevenged!" How long would the go- 
vernment be content with unsuccessful remonstrance ? I beUeve, sir, that only 
the most prompt correction of, or compensation for, the abuse, would be ad- 
mitted *s satisfaction in such a case. 

"If the principles of tliis government forbid it to retaliate by impressments, 
there is yet another mode which might be resorted to. We might authorise 
our ships of war, though not to impress, yet to recruit sailors on board British 
merchantmen. Such are the inducements to enter into our naval service, that 
we believe even this practice would very seriously affect the navigation of Bri- 
tain, How, sir, would it be received by the British nation I" 

" Is it not more advisable to desist from, and to take effectual measures to 
prevent an acknow ledged wrong, than by perseverance in that wrong, to excite 
against themselves the ivell founded resentment of America, and force our govern- 
■nient into measures ivMch may possibly terminate in open rupture .?" 

JOHN MARSHALL. 

To this able, eloquent, and acute defence of the rights of our 
oppressed and outraged sailors, and of our insulted sovereignty, 
the most pointed and particular attention of the reader is re- 
quested. The elevated rank and respectable standing of the wri- 
ter, entitle it to the utmost weight and influence. It sets the seal 
of reprobation on the impressment of the free citizens of a friend- 
ly neutral nation, by armed bands in the service of a belligerent : 
the most flagitious outrage ever perpetrated in a time of preten- 
ded peace. 

Extract of a letter from Hiifas King, esq. to the secretary of state, dated London , 

February 23, 1801. 
"The progress which had I)cen made in our negociation with this govcvn- 
itient, v/as such as must have brought it to a speedy conclusion, had not a 



. UAi*. 3-1..] f IMPRESSMENT. 193 

change taken place in the department of foreign utT;iirs ; that the result wonld 
in the main have been satisfactory, is more than I am authorised to saj-, al- 
thougli 1 flattered myself with the hope that it w ould be so. Lord Hawkesbury 
assures me that he will give to the several subjects, which have been pretty 
fully discussed, an early iuid impartial consideration ; and I am in hopes that 
lord Vincent will likewise be inchned to attend to our reiterated remon- 
strances against the impressment of our seamen, and the vexations of our 
trade. KUFUS IvlNG." 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Mr. Lhtoii's projet of a convention respecting deserters. Ob- 
jected to hij Mr. Pickering^ Mr. Stoddart^ 3Ir. Wollcott^ and 
Mr. 31'' Henry. Rejected. 

In the year 1800, Mr. Listen, the British minister, submit- 
ted to Mr. Adams, president of the United States, a projet of a 
treaty for the mutual delivery of deserters, of which 1 annex 
the seventh and ninth articles, being those which alone bear on 
the subject of impressment. 

7. "It is, however, understood, that this stipulation is not to extend to autho- 
rise either of the parties to demand the delivery of any sailors, subjects or 
citizens belonging to the other party, who have been enipio} ed on board the 
vessels of either of the respective nations, and who have, in time of war or 
threatened hostility, voluntarily entered into the service of their own sovereign 
or nation, or have beat compelled to enter therein, according- to the laws and prac- 
tice prevailing' in the ttvo coiintries respectively. 

9. " It IS, however, understood, that no stipulation in this additional article 
bhall be consUued to empower the civil or military officers of either of the 
contracting parties forcibly to enter into the public ships of war ,- or into tlie 
forts, garrisons or posts of the other party ; or to use violence to the pei-sonsof 
the land or sea officers of the respective nations, with a view to compel the de- 
iiverj- of such persons as may have deserted from the naval or military service 
of either party as aforesaid ." 

This projet which was intended to sanction impressment on 
board private vessels, by the exception of " public ships of war," 
was submitted to the heads of departments, and to the attorney 
general, for their opinions, which I subjoin. 

From Timothy Pickering, esq. secretary of state, to Jlfr. Adams. 

Febniary20, 1800. 
" The secretary has the honour to lay before the president Mr. Liston's note 
of the fourth of February, together with his projet of a treaty for the recipro- 
cal deliverv of deserters ; which appears to the secretani -iitterhi inadmissib'r, 
UNLESS IT WOULD PUT AN END TO LMPllESSMENTS— which Mr. 
Listen seemed to imagine — widle the smeiuh paragraph of Ms projet eorpresshi 
recog-nizes the right of impressing JSrilUsh subjects, and co?isequenth/ American ciii. 
zens as at present. TIMOTHY PICKERING." 

B. Stoddart, esq. secretary of the navy, to the president 

February 26, ISOO . 
" The secretary of the navy is clearly of opinion, that it is better to have no 
article, and meet all consequences, than not to enumerate merchant vessels on the 
high seas, among the things not to be entered in search of deserters." 

Oliver IVolcott, esq. secretary of the treasury, to the president. 

Af>riJ'26,lS0O. 
" The projet of a treaty proposed by the minister of his Britannic majesty, 
for the reciprocal delivery of deserters from the land and naval service, does 



POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH [chap. 34. 

not svjfficiently provide against tJie impressment of American seamen ; and is there- 
fore deemed inadmissible.'" 

As a substitute for Mr. Liston's seventh article, Mr. Picker- 
ing proposed the following : 

" It is, however, understood, that nothing- in these stipulations shall be con- 
strued to empower the civil, military, or naval officers of'either of the contract- 
ing- parties, forcibly to enter into the territory, forts, posts, or vessels of the 
other party — or to use violence to the persons of the commanders or the offi- 
cers of the forts, posts, or vessels of the other party, with a view to compel the 
delivery of such persons as sliall desert as aforesaid." 

This article was intended fully to secure from impressment, 
even in our private as well as public vessels, not merely our own 
citizens, but also the subjects of Great Britain ; in a word, to 
put an end entirely to the practice of impressment on board our 
vessels. 

Mr. Wolcott, secretary of the treasury, proposed a substitute 
for the article objected to, still more clearly and explicitly anni- 
hilating the pretensions of England to impress seamen of any 
. description on board our vessels. 

" It is, however, understood, that nothing in the foregoing stipulations shall 
be construed to empower the civil or any other officers, of either party, forcibly 
to enter the forts, posts, or any other place within or under the juriscliction of 
the other party ; nor to empower the naval commanders or other officers of 
either party forcibl}' to enter any public or p"ivate vessels of the other party, 
on the high seas, with a view to compel the deli\'ery of any person whatever ; 
on the contrary, it is expressly declared to be the understanding of the contract- 
ing parties, that the mutual restorations of persons claimed as deserters, shall 
only be made by the free and voluntary consent of the mihtary officers employ- 
ed in the land service, or tlie commanders of the public or private ships or 
vessels of the two parties, or in pursuance of the decisions of the courts, judges, 
or other competent civil officers of the two nations, in all cases arising within 
their respective jurisdictions. O. WOLCOTT." 

James M' Henry , secretary of -war, to the president. 

War Department, April 16, 1800. 

" The secretary thinks the projet of Mr. Liston may be substantially ac- 
cepted, except the 7th article, which seems to provide that the United States 
shall not demand the delivery of any sailors, although their citizens, if they 
have been employed in British vessels, and who have in time of war, or threat- 
ened hostilities, voluntarily entered into the British service, or have been com- 
pelled to enter therein, according to the law and practice prevailing in Great 
Britain. This article is very inaccurately expressed ; for it says, "employed or 
entered into the service of their own sovereign or nation, or have been com- 
pelled to enter therein," &c. If this article mea7is, -what it is appreJiendedit does, 
it is wholly inadmissible. It establishes a principle reprobated by this country. 
The countcr-projet of the secretary of state, in substance, meets the secreta- 
ry's approbation ; but it is submitted, whether the adoption of part of the draft 
by the secretary of the treasury, will not improve it. 

'^ All which is respectfliUy submitted, JAMES M'HENRY." 

Apnim, 1800. 
*'The attorney general hanng read and considered the letter of the, secretary 
of state, and the j^rojet of an ai-ticle drawn by the secretary of the treasury, on 
the subject of deserters, which are proposed to be sent to the Britisli minister 
here, expresses liis entire approbation of the same. CHARLES LEE." 



CHAF. 35.] OIPRESSjMENT. 19a 

CHAPTER XXXV, 

Horrors of Impressment^ as submitted to congress^ by Tmothtj 
Pickerings secretary of state. 

To afford a specimen of the treatment of some of the impress- 
ed American seamen, whose cases it has become fashionable to 
treat with indifference, and whose awful sufferings have been 
palliated or denied, I submit extracts from authentic documents 
on the subject. It will incontrovertibly appear that the horrors 
of this odious and execrable business of impressment have been 
quintupled by the odious and execrable manner in which it has 
been conducted. 

Extract from the deposition of Eliphalet Ladd, second mate on board the Thomas 
and Sarah, of Philadelphia, and a native of E3eeter,J\"eiv Hampshire, annexed to 
a report submitted to congress by Timothy Pickering, esq. secretary of state. 

Kingston, June 19, 1799. 
Eliphalet Ladd maketh oath, that on Wednesday, the 12th inst. he came on 
shore with two seamen belong-ing to said ship, named John Edes, and Israel 
Randol, in order to land a boat load of staves ; that a press gang came up, 
and laid hold of John Edes ; that one of the press gang, named Moody, -vith a 
broad sword cut this deponent on the forehead, and made a -voiind of three inches ! ! 
They tlien took deponent, together with Edes, and conducted them in different 
boats on board the Brunswick man of war ; that the boat on board of which 
Edes was, made the ship some little time before that the deponent was in ; and 
on deponent's neai-ing the ship, he heard the cries of a man flogging ! ! ! and 
on going up the side of the Brunswick, he perceived Edes, who was ciying ; 
and adcb-esslng himself to the first lieutenant, a Mr. Hams, saying, here is a 
man who can attest to what I have told you. The lieutenant then laying hold 
of deponent by the arm, said, go along on the quarter deck, you damned rascal 
you ! ! ! which deponent accordingly did ; that all the impressed men were 
then examined, and aftei-wards ordered by the heutenant into the waist ; that 
when they got there, Edes pulled off his shirt, and SHOWED DEPONENT 
HIS BACK, WHICH WAS BRUISED FROM HIS SHOULDERS TO HIS 
HIPS ! ! ! He then informed, he had just been whipped -with ropes' ends, as depo- 
nent was going up the ship's sides, by the boatswain and his mates, by orders 
of the lieutenant ; that deponent remained on board the Brunswick all that 
day and the next night, during ivhich no surgical or medical assistance -vas gii'en 
to the ivound he had received on /lis head, nor to the bridses of tlie said Edes, vho, 
during the night, called out sevei^al times from extreme pain ; and the next morning 
was barely able to move himself; that between nine and ten o'clock the next 
morning, the whole of the impressed men were again ordered on the quarter 
deck, and stationed, except deponent and Edes ; that while tlie examination 
was going on, the captain of the Thomas and Sarah was coming on board, but 
was prevented by the lieutenant, who ordered the centinel to keep him off; 
that at about eleven o'clock the captain of the Bnmswick came on board; and 
at three o'clock deponent was discharged, but Edes retained. 

" ELIPHALET LADD." 
Sworn before 

William Savage, justice of the peace, &c. 

Further extract from the preceding report of Timothy Pickering, esq. secretary of 

state, to congress. 
Richard Carter, of the Pomona, of Portsmouth, impressed at the same time 
with Ladd and Edes, among other items of his deposition, swore, " he was 
violently forced into a boat, and STRUCK TWICE, WITH A DRAWN CUT- 
LASS, by oiie of the press gang; and that two men with pistols placed 
•ver this deponent, who loaded their pistols in the presence of this deponent, a-nd 
threatened to blow out his brains if he attempted to move or speak .- and then, tliey 



1% POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 36, 

carried this deponent, and John Edes, one of tlie seamen of the ship Thomas 
and Sarah, an American citizen, whom they had also seized, on board the said 
Brunswick : this deponent and the said John Edes were ordered to go on the 
quarter deck, where Mr. Harris, the first lieutenant of the said ship, abused 
this deponent and said John Edes ; and gave them in charge to the master of 
said ship, while he went to look for the boatswain's mate; and soon after re- 
turned with the boatswain's mate, whom he ordered to take this deponent and 
the said John Edes, and to beat them ; in obedience to which orders, t/ie said 
Joh7i Edes and this deponent -were sevei^ely beaten, particularli/ this deponent, the 
doatsu'uin's mate doubling a rope of about three inches and a half thick, and 
BEATING THIS DEPONENT WITH GREAT VIOLENCE OVER THE 
HEAD, FACE, NECK, SHOULDERS, BACK AND STOMACH, UNTIL HE 
HAD TIRED HLVISELF ! ! ! and then he gave the same rope to one of the ma- 
riners of the said ship Bninswick ,■ and he also severely beat this deponent in tlie 
same maimer ! ! and tliis deponent saith, he received iiptvards of a hniidred blows / / 
and -was thereby greatly bndsed, and his face cut, and his stomach, as -well inter- 
nally as externally, mjured, so that deponait brought np a quantity of blood for se- 
veral daifs. 

" Sworn before me, WILLIAM SAVAGE." 

To avoid prolixity, I have omitted the residue of this depo" 
sitioii. The deponent was hberated by habeas corpus. 

Annexed to this deposition is that of the physician, who at- 
tended Richard Carter, who declared, that 

" Fi'om the situation in which he found the said Carter, he verily believed 
he had been very severely beaten some days previous, his blood being very 
much extravasated . and from the appearance of the bruises, it must have been 
done with a thick rope." 

It is difficult to find terms to pour out the abhorrence and in- 
dignation excited by the abominable scenes depicted in these 
depositions and narratives. Language fails in the attempt. 
Shame, disgrace, dishonour, and infamy, will attend the coun- 
cils and counsellors of America, for the base submission to such 
monstrous cruelty. The outrage ought to have been met at the 
threshold. — Atonement to the sufferers ought to have been made 
at the public expense, that is, as far as such horrible injuries can 
be atoned for — and demand made for the re-payment of the 
money thus employed. If not complied with, full and complete 
retaliation ought to have taken place. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Impressment during' the ad^ninistration of Mr, 'Jefferson. Let- 
ter from Riifiis King. Arrangement with lord St. Vincent 
rejected by Mr. King. 

Letter from Rnfus King, esq. to the secretary of state. 

JVew York, July, 1803. 
" Sir — As soon as the war ajipearedto me unavoidable, I thought it advisable 
to renew the attempt to form an an-angement with the British government for 
the protection of our seamen. Witii this view I had several conferences, botlx 
with lord HawkcsbuVy and Mr. Adchngton, who avowed a sincere disposition 
to do whatever might be in their power to prevent the dissatisfaction on this 
subject, that had so frequently manifested itself during the late war : imth very 
candid professions, I, however, found several objections, in discussing the projet 
with the first lord of tlie admiralty. Lord Hawkesbury having promised to sign 



CHAP. 36.] IMPRESSMENT, 19? 

any agreement upon the subject that I should condude with lord St. Vincent. 
1 endeavoured to quality and remove the objections he oHered lo our projet : 
and finally, the day before I left London, lord St. Vincent consented to the fol- 
lowing regulations : 

" 1. No seaman or seafaring person shall, vpon the high seas, cmd -Mihont the 
junsdiction of either partij, he demanded or taken out of any siiip or vessel be- 
longing to the citizens or subjects of one of the parties, by the public or private 
armed ships ormeii ofivar, belonging to or in tlie service of the other party ; and 
Strict orders shall be given for the due observance of this engagement. 

"2. Each pai-ty will prohibit its citizens or subjects from clandestinely cnn- 
ciealing or carrying away from the temtories or colonial possessions of the 
other, any seaman belonging to the other party. 

" 3. These regulations shall be in force for hve years, and no longer. 

" On parting with his lordship, I engaged to draw up, in tlie form of a con- 
vention, and send him these articles, in the course of the evening, who promis- 
ed to forward them, with his approbation, to lord Hawkesbury. I accordingly 
prepared and sent the draft to his lordship, who sent me a letter in the course 
of the night, stating that on further reflection he was of opinion, that the narro7ii 
sees should be expressly excepted, they having been, as his lordship remarked, 
immemoriallv coiisideredto be within the dominions of Great Britain ; that with 
this correction he had sent the proposed convention to lord Hawkesbury, who, 
his lordship presumed, would not sign it before he should have consulted the 
judge of the high court of admiralty, sir A\'illiam Scott. 

" As I had supposed, from the tenor of my conferences with lord St. Vincent, 
that the doctrine of the mare clauswn woidd not be revived against us on this 
occasion, but that England would be content with the limited jurisdiction or 
dominion over the seas, adjacent to her territories, which is assigned by the law 
of nations to other states, I was not a little disappointed on receiving this com- 
munication; and after weighing well the nature of the principle, and the disad- 
vantages of its admission, I concluded to abandon the negociation rather than to ac- 
quiesce in the doctrine it proposed to establish. 

" I regret, not to have been able to put this business on a satisfactory footing, 
knowing, as 1 do, its very great importance to botli parties. But I flatter my- 
self that I have not misjudged the interests of our country, in refusing to sanc- 
tion a principle that miglit be productive of more extensive exits than those it was oni' 
aim to prevent. RUFUS KING." 

This is a most important document, and must never for an 
instant be overlooked in forming a decision on the question of 
impressment. Mr. King was united with, and a leader among 
those men who were lately hunting down Mr. Madison, and 
preparing the way for anarchy and civil war : and the chief pre- 
tence was the stand Mr. Madison made against impressment. 
Nevertheless, we find that he took higher ground himself — and 
that it is indisputably true, that more than one half of the mi- 
series of our poor, oppressed, and enslaved seamen, are charge- 
able to his account. And whatever may be the maledictions 
which his friends are showering down upon Mr. Madison, a 
double portion of them has been richly earned by Mr. King. 
For it appears, that had he been so disposed, he might have res. 
cued our sailors from the horrors of impressment, every where 
but on the narrow seas, which would have greatly abridged their 
sufferings, as well as our complaints against (ireat Britain. And 
yet, lately, with a most wonderful and hideous degree of incon- 
sistency, he has, as I have stated, been persecuting and trying 
to crush ]Mr. Madison for the attempt to protect our seamen, in 
O. B. 27 



198 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chat. 36. 

whose favour he himself formerly displayed such a high degree 
of solicitude ! 

To evince how universal has been the indignation of our mer- 
cantile citizens against the oppression of, and cruelties perpe- 
trated upon, our seamen, I annex impressive extracts from do- 
cuments on the subject. 

Extract ft om a memorial to consTC'm, nf the inhabitants ofSaIem,Jainiary20,\^Q6' 
" Your memorialists are sorry, that other instances of hostile conduct have 
been manifested by Great Britain, less direct in their natvire, but not less dero- 
gatory from our sovereignty than those enumerated. THE IMPRESS MENT 
OF OUR SEAME>f, nntivillistniuUng clear proofs of citiienship, the violation of 
bur jurisdiclion by capture at the moutlis of our harbours, and insulting- treat- 
ment of our ships on the ocean, are subjects worthy of tlie serious considera- 
tion of our national councils, and will, we have no doubt, receive an eai-lj-, 
prompt, and decisive atttention." 

Signed in behalf of the inhabitants, by their authority, 
John Hathorne, Joseph Sjn-ague, Jonatlian Mason, 

Benjamin Crowninshield, jun. Joseph White, jun. Joseph Story. 

Extract from a memorial of c general meeting of the merchants of J\"ew York, Hc' 

cemher 26, li^. 
" But it is not on account of oui- pecupifliy-Iosses alone tliat we complairr. 
The constancy and valour of the seamen of the United States are justly themes 
of patriotic exultation. From tlieir connexion with us, -mc consider their cause as 
our cause ; their rights as our rights ,- their interests as our interests. Our feelings 
are indignant attlie recital of their -^vrongs." 

John Jacob Astor, Samuel Bell, Abraham Smithy Joshua Jones, 

Samuel Adams, J. F. Delaplalne, Thomas H.Smith, jun. Fred. Giraud,juT». 
HowlandSc Gi'innel, Peter Stagg, Andrew Foster, Robert Roberts, 

E. Slossom, David Taylor, Jacob Barker, John Crookes, 

Israel Gibbs, Wm. Adee, WiUiam Lovett, HughM'Cormick, 

Isaac Clason, John T. Lawrence, Wm. Edgar, jun. John Depevster, 

John Slidell, Joseph W. Totten, Samuel Stihvell, Gilbert Haight, 

JoliiiK. Townsend, I. Schermerhorn, Jacob P. Giraud, James Lovett, 

And. Ogden ?c Co. Alexander Ruden, Jolm Hone, Left'ert Lefferts, 

Thomas Storm, Joseph Otis, John Kane, Aug. Wynkoop, 

Amos Butler, Lewis Hartman, Amasa Jackson, Jolui W. Gale, 

Ebenezer B\irrlll, Gan-et Storm, Wm. J. Robinson, Thomas Rich, 

Isaac Hcjer, George Bement, Joseph Strong, Samuel Mar.shall, 

Ralph Bulkley, S. A. Rich, Abraham S. Hallet, Elbert Hernng. 

This beautiful piece of composition does equal honour to the 
head and heart of the writer. But many of these subscribers 
have violated their engagements. They have not i-edeemed the 
solemn pledge that accompanied this morceau. They have most 
indubitably done all in their power to fasten the horrors of im. 
pressment, with adamantine chains, on those illustrious men, 
" whose cause — whose rights — whose interests — they considered 
as their own cause — their own rights — their own interests." 
For no man beyond the rank of an ideot, can doubt, that every 
step taken to cripple the government — which game they lately 
played on a large scale — was a step towards laying the nation, 
tied neck and heels, at the feet of England, to prescribe what 
terms she pleased, and of course to perpetuate the miseries of 
impressment. 



uHAP. 36.] IMPRESSMENT. 199 

Extract from the memorial of the nierchatits of Philadelphia to Congress, December 

1805. 
" That our seamen should be exposed to the MEANEST INSULTS, AND 
MOST WANTON CRUELTIES, and tlie fruits of our industry and enterprise 
fall a prey to the proflig-ate, cannot but excite both feeling and indignation, and 
call loudly for the aid and protection of government." 

T. Fitszimons, L. Clapier, W. Montgomery, Thomas English, 

AV. Suns, Manuel Eyre, George L.atimer, Philip Nickhn, 

J. Gerard Koch, John Craig, Daniel W. Coxe, Chandler Price, 

.Joseph S. Lewis, Robert Ralston, Ab. Kinlzing, Robert Wain, 

Thomas Allibone, Th. W. Francis, James Yard, R.E. Hobart, secy 

Some of the gentlemen who signed this petition, stand in pre- 
cisely the same situation as some of the signers of New- York. 
The observations made on those — of course apply to these. 

Extract from the memoriul of the meixhants of Baltimore, dated Jannarij 21, 1805. 

" Your memorialists w ill- not trespass upon your time with a recital of the 
various acts by which our coasts and even our ports and harbours liave been 
converted into scenes of violence and depredation ; and our gallant coimlrijmen 
oppressed and persecuted." 

Thomas Tenant, William Patterson, Steuart Brown, WiUiam Taylor, 

John Donnel, .lolm Sherlock, David Stewart, Robert Gilmor, 

Luke Tiernan, Henry Payson, Mark Pringle, James Calhoun, 

T. Hollingswortli, William "NVilson, John Strieker, Samuel Steret, 

George Stiles, T. Swan, Benj.amin Williams, Hugh Thompson, 

J.A.Buchanan, Joseph Steret, William Lorman, Samuel Taylor. 
Alexander M'Kim, 

Extract from a memorial to Congress of the merchants of JVeivhaven, agreed to 

Febniari/ 7, 1806. 

"In regard to THE IMPRESSMENT OF AMERICAN SEAMEN, your 
memorialists feel in common with their fellow citizens, a lively indignation at 
the abuses of power often exercised by Biilish oflicers upon American citizens. 
We have full confidence that the government of the United States will adopt 
and pursue such ineasvu'es for restraining these injurious proceedings .as the 
honour and interests of the United States may require." 

After the murder of captain Pearce, entering the port of New- 
York, by captain Whitby, of the Leander, within the jurisdic- 
tion of the United States, there were meetings held in various 
parts of the country, to express their abhorrence of the outrage. 
On the 26th of April, 1806, at the Tontine Coffee House in 
New- York, there was a numerous and very respectable meeting 
of federalists, who appointed l^i/fus Kin^, Ebenezer Stevens, 
Oliver Wolcott, William W. W^oolsey, and William Hender- 
son, to draw up and report a set of resolutions for the occasion. 
In their report, which Avas unanimously agreed to, was the fol- 
lowing philippic against the administration, for permitting IM- 
PRESSMENT among other grievances. 

" Resolved, That the suftering foreign armed ships to station themselves off 
our harbour, and there to stop, search, and capture our vessels — to IMPRESS, 
WOUND, AND MURDER OUR CITIZENS, is a gross and criminal neglect 
of the highest duties of government ; and that an administration which pa- 
tiently pei'mits the same, is not entiiled iv the conjidence of a brave and free peo' 
pic. 

" Resolved, That the murder of John Pearce, one of our fellow citizens, by 
a shot from a British ship of war, at the entrance of our harboui-, and within 
half a mile of the shore, while he w»4 engaged in peaceably navigating a coasts 



30O POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 37 

ing vessel, laden with provisions for our market, is an act that excites our de- 
testation and abhorrence ; and calls upon our government for the adoption of 
prompt and vigorous measures to prevent a repetition of such wanton and in- 
human conduct, and so flagrant a violation of our sovereignty." 

Some of my readers may not know — but it is perfectly pro- 
per that all should know, that captain Whitby was brought to 
trial in England, and honourably acquitted^ notwithstanding the 
most undeniable evidence of the crime was dispatched to Eng- 
land at the expense of our government. For the murder of 
Pearce, no atonement has ever been made. It still cries shame 
and disgrace on his passive countrymen. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Documents on impressment continued. 

Deposition of Isaac Clark. 

" I Isaac Clark, of Salem, in the county of Essex, and commonwealth of Mas- 
sachusetts, on solemn oath declare, that I Vk^as born in the town of Randolph, 
in the county of Norfolk; have sailed out of Salem aforesaid, about seven 
years ; that on the 14th of June, 1809, I was impressed and forcibly taken from 
the ship Jane, of Norfolk, by the sailing master (his name was Car) of his ma- 
jesty's ship Porcupine, Robert Elliot, commander. I had a protection from 
the custom-house in Salem, which I showed to captain Elhot; he swore that I 
7t'as an Englishman ; tore my protecUo7i to pieces before my eyes, and thre^u it 
overboard, and ordered me go to work. I told him I did not belong to his flag, 
and 1 would do no work luider it. He then ordered my legs to be put in irons, 
and THE NEXT MORNING ORDERED THE MASTER AT ARMS TO 
TAKE ME ON DECK, AND GIVE ME TWO DOZEN LASHES : after re- 
ceiv:ng them, he ordered him to keep me in irons, and give me one biscuit 
and one pint of water for twenty four hours. After keeping me in this situa- 
tion one week, I was brought on deck, and asked by captain Elliot, if I would 
go to my duty. On my refusing, he ordered me to strip, tied me up a second 
time, and gave me txvo dozen more, and kept me on the same allowance another 
week — then ordering me on deck again, asked if I would go to work. I still 
persisted that I was an American ; and that he had no right to command my 
ser\ ices, and I would do no work on board his ship. He told me he would 
' punish me until I was willing to work ; and gave jne the third tivo dozen lashes, 
ordered a very heavy chain put round my neck fsuch as they had used to sling the 
loiver yardj fastened to a ring bolt in the deck, and that no person, except the 
master at arms, should speak to me, or give me any thing to eat or drink, but 
one biscuit ancl a pint of water for twenty four hours, until I would go to work. 
I was kept in this situation nine weeks, when, being exhausted by hunger and 
thirst, I was obliged to yield. After being on board the ship more than two 
years and a half, and being ivoundedin an actionxvith a French frigate, I was sent 
to the hospital. When partially recovered, I was sent on board the Impregna- 
ble, 98 gun ship. My wound growing worse, J was returned to the hospital, when 
the AuK-rican consul received a copy of my protection from Salem, and procur- 
ed my discharge on the 29th day of April last. There were seven impressed 
AmericiJis on board the Porcupine, three of whom entered. 

ISAAC CLARK. 
Essex, ss. Dec. 23, 1812, 

"Then Isaac Clark personally appeared, and made solemn oath that the facts 
in the foregoing declaration, by him made and subscribed, were true in all 
their parts — before 

JOHN PUNCHARD, 7 Justices of the peace and of 
M. TOWNSEND, $ the quorum. 



«HAP. 37".] LVIPRESSMENT. 201 

From Com. Rogers to the Secretary of the JVavy. 

U. S. Frigate President, Boston, Jan. 14, 1813. 

"Sir — Herewith you will receive two muster books, of his Britanuic mujes- 
ty's vessels Moselle and Sappho, found on board the British packet Swallow' 

" As the British have always denied that they detained on board their ships 
of war, American citizens, knowing' them to be such, I send you the enclosed, 
as a public document of their own, to prove how ill such an assertion accords 
with their practice. 

" It will appear by these two muster books, that as late as August last, abovt 
an eighth part of the Moselle and Sappho' s crexus were Americans ,■ consequentl}^ 
if there is only a quarter of that proportion on board their other vessels, that 
they have an infinitely greater number of Americans in their service than any 
American has yet an idea of. 

" Any further comment of mine on this subject, I consider unnecessaiy ; as 
the documents speak too plain for themselves. 

JOHN RODGERS. 

" The hon. Paul Hamilton, Secretary of the Navy." 

Extract of a letter from Commodore Porter to J\I. Carey, dated 

Washing-ton, July 13, 1815. 
" After closing my letter of this morning, I received yours of yesterday : and, 
as the only means ofprocui-ing the information required, have consulted Com- 
nvodore Rodgers, who informs me, that there appeared on the muster books of 
the Moselle and Sappho, tlie naines of from thirty five to forty men, who wcvc 
reported to the admiralty office, as impressed American seamen. The places 
of their nativity are also noted. The complement of men for each of the ves'- 
sels was about 160. With respect, &c. 

DAVID PORTER. 

"I Beekman Ver Plank Hoffman, of the town of Poughkeepsie, do certify, 
that I am a heutenant in the United States' navy ; that I was a lieutenant on 
board the Constitution in the action and capture of the Java ; and was sent on 
board that vessel ; and after the crew were removed, set her on fire, and blew 
her up. 

" Among the crew of the Java, THIRTEEN IMPRESSED AMERICAN 
SEAMEN were found, three of whom had entered the British service, and were 
left : the other ten were liberated as Americans." 

Poughkeepsie, April 16, 1813. B. V. HOFFMAN. 

" Richard Thompson, being sworn, saith, that he is a native of New Paltz 
opposite Poughkeepsie ; that lie sailed from Wilmington about the twenty- 
eighth of April, 1810, on board the brig W^arren, William Kelly, captain, for 
Coi'k On the homeward passage, in September following, he was imjiressed 
and taken on board the Peacock, a Britisii sloop of war, and comjjclled to do 
his duty ; that while on board that vessel, he made many unsuccessful attempts 
to write to his friends, to inform them of liis situation. He further saith, that 
after he had heai-d of the war, himself and two other impressed American 
seamen who were on board the Peacock, went aft to the captain ; claimed to 
be considered as American prisoners of war ; and refused to do duty any lon- 
ger. 

"We were ordered off the quarter deck, and the captain called for the mas- 
ter at anns, and ordered us to be put in irons. We were then kept in irons 
about twenty-four hours, when we were taken out, brought to the gangway, 
STRIPPED OF OUR CLOTHES, TIED AND WHIPPED, EACH ONE DO- 
ZEN AND A HALF LASHES, AND PUT TO DUTY. 

" He further saith, that he was kept on board the Peacock, and did duty till 
the action with the Hornet. After the Hornet hoisted American colours, he and 
the other impressed Americans again went to the captain of the Peacock, and 
asked to be sent below ; said it was an American ship ; and that they did not 
wish to figlit against their country. Tiie captain ordered us to our quarters ; 
called midshipman Stone to do his duty ; and if we did not do our duty, TO 
3L0W OUR BRAINS OUT; "aye, aye !" was answered by Stone, who then 



202 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chai-. 37. 

held a pistol at my breast, and ordered us to our places. We then continued at 
our places, and were compelled to fight till the Peacock struck ; and we were 
liberated after about two years and eight months." 

his 
Poughkeepsie, April 17, 1813. RICHARP >^THOAIPSON. 

mark. 
Head over and siguedl JOSEPH HARRIS. 
in the presence of > JOHN FRIAR. 

Extract from the log book of a7i officer on board his majesty's ship Guerriere, in the 

action -with the Constitution. 
"The Guerriere was a frigate of one thousand and eighty tons hurden,taken 
f'rom the French in 1806 ; and liad three hundred and two men and boys be- 
longing to her. There ivere ten American seamen on board, who had belonged 
to her for some years. But as the declaration of war against Great Britain was 
not known when she sailed, there had been no opportunity of discharging 
them ; and captain Dacres considering it as unjust to compel a native of the 
United States to fight against his countrjinen, granted tliem permission to quit 
their quaiters, and go below." 

Captain Dacres, in his address to the court martial by which 
he was tried, states this fact in the following terms : 

" What considerably lueakened my quarters ivas pei^mitiing the Americans be- 
longing to t/ie ship, to quit their quarters on the enemy hoisting tlie colours of 
that nation, wliicli, though it deprived me of the men, I thouglit it was my 

duty." 

Boston, February 6, 1813. 

" Died at Boston, on the third instant, on board the frigate President, God- 
frey Hyer, seaman, aged forty -seven. The deceased was a native of Rliode- 
Island," and was one of the numerous instances of impressment, which have been 
the cause of complaint against the English. He was taken on board an Ameri- 
can merchant sliip, and though he never voluntarily entered their service, he 
was detained from his country and InsivienAs fourteen years, during which time 
he was present at seventeen engagements, and gained the reputation of a good 
seaman and a brave man. 

" He at length found means to escape ; and on his return to the United 
States, he immediately shipped on board the President, where he continued uu- 
til hia decease ; his conduct receiving tiie marked ajiprobation of his comman- 
der and the other officers of the frigate. He was interred on Thursday lust at 
Charlestown ; his funeral was attended by a heutcnant, eight midshipmen, all 
the petty officers, and fifty seamen of the ship ; and the ceremonies were per- 
formed by the chaplain in a manner highly solemn and impressive." 

From the Jioston Patriot, 

"My brother John Cand, of Woolwich, in the district of Maine, was prest 
onboard his majesty's frigate Macedonian, on the tenth of .June, 1810, from 
the ship Mount Hope, of Wiscasset, and was killed on boiml the :Macedonian, 
in the battle witli the United States, commodore Decatur. A disconsolate wife 
and child are in mouriiiiig and in sorrow, for the loss of a husband and parent, 
on whom they were dependent." JOSEPH CAND. 

"I John Nichols, a native of Durham, state of Massachusetts, relate and say, 
that I sailed from Portland in the ship Franklin, commanded by James Marks, 
as chief mate, bound to Liverpool, where we arrived the seventh day of Febru- 
ary, 1809. The same day I was taken by a press gang, coming from my board- 
ing house to the ship, and carried by them to the rendezvous, Cooper's Row, 
and detained one night. The next morning I gave the heutenant my protec- 
tion, and at tlie same time stated to him I was chief mate of the ship ; also 
captain Marks and Mr. Porter, supercargo, came, and were refused admittance. 

" I then asked the heutenant for my pi'otection •• he answered, I-zvill give it 
to you with a hell to it,-'" 'dnd i7n}nediately t07-e it zip before my face, and sent me 
onboard the guard ship Princess, where I remained one week, and was then 
sent round to Plymouth on board tlie Salvado;- guard sliip ; remained tliere onQ 



CHAP. 37.] lilPRESSMENT. 203 

month, after which I was drafted on board the Abovikir, seventy -four, where I 
remained three years and fourteen days. 

" When tiie war broke out, 1 determined to give myself up a prisoner of war, 
let the consequence be what it would. Consequently on the twenty-eighth of 
October, I went to the captain, and gave myself up as a prisoner of war, and 
refused to do any more duty. Then he told me, I was an Englishman, and if I 
would not do duty, be would flog me ; and ordered me in irons, and kept me in 
irons twenty-four hours, after which I was taken to the gangwa)-, and received 
one dozen with the cat on my bare bach. 

" The captain then asked me if I would go to duty. I told him no : I would 
sooner die first. He then put me in irons agtiin for twenty -four hours, and /wa« 
once more brovght to the gang-way, and received as before with the siune questions, 
and answer as preceded ; and the same -ivas repeated four days successively, and / 
received four dozen on mif bare back. 

" After the fourth day I was a prisoner at large. The twenty-sixth day of 
December I was sent to prison without my clothes, they being refused me by 
the captain, after abusing me in the most insulting manner; and all I ever re- 
ceived for my servitude was fourteen pounds. During impressment, I have 
used my best endeavours to escape." 

;/7toess, Jeduthan Upton. JOHN NICHOLS. 

From the Salem Register, July, 1813. 
Captain Upton has furnished us with a fist of 128 American seamen, who 
had been impressed on board British ships of war, and delivered up as pri- 
soners of war, with the places of their nativity, the ships they were discharged 
from, the time they have served, and the number of Am.ericans left on board 
the different ships'^ at the time of their discharge. These were on board one 
prison ship, the San Antonio. Besides these, there were on board the Chatham 
prison sliip, thi-ee hundred and twenty men, 7vho have been delivered tip in similar 
circumstances. Many of these poor fellows have been detained more than fif- 
teen years : and about forty of the one hundred and twenty eight on board the 
San Antonio belong to this state." 

To the Editors of the JVafional Intelligencer. 
" In 'the montli of February, 1797, I belonged to the ship Fidelity, captain 
Charles Weems, lying in the harbour of St Pierre's, Martinique. About one 
o'clock Sunday morning, I was awakened by a noise on the deck, and on going 
up found the ship in possession of a press gang. In a few minutes all hands 
were forced out, and ordered into their boat, and in a hea\y shower of rain 
conveyed on board the Ceres frigate. We were ordered on the gun deck 
until day light, by which time about eighty Americans ivere collected. 

" Soon after sunrise, the ship's crew were ordered into the cabin to be over- 
havded. Each was questioned as to his name, &c. when I was called on for my 
place of birth, and answered, J\l'evj castle, Belaivare. The captain affected not 
to hear the last ; but said, " aye, J\"e-wcastle ,- he's a collier ; the very man. I 
warrant him a sailor. Send him down to the doctor." Upon which a petty 
officer, whom I recognized as one of the press gang, made answer, " sir, I know 
this fello-iv. He is a schoolmate of mine, ami his name is Kelly. He was born in Bel- 
fast. And, Tom, you know me well enough ,- so don't sham yankee any more.''' 
« I thought," says the captain, " he was a countryman of our own; but an 
Irishman's all one — take him away." 

" The next was a Prussian, who had shipped in Hamburgh, as a carpenter of 
the Fidelity, in September, 1796. He affected, when questioned, not to under- 
stand English, but answered in Dutch. Upon which the captain laughed, and 
said, " This is no yankee. Send him down, and let the quarter-master pit him in 
the mess with the other Dutchmen : they will iinderstand him, and the boats^vain will 
learn liim to tcdk English." He was accordingly kept. 

" I was afterwards discharged by an order from Admiral Harvey, on the ap- 
plication of Mr. Craig, at that time American agent or vice-consul. I further 
observed that full one-third of her crew ivere impressed Americans." 

JOHN DAVIS, of Abel. 
^Vrtw Yard, Oct. 12, 1813. 



204 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 37. 

Copy of a letter from commodore Decatur to the secretary of the navy. 

U. S. ship United States, JK'ew London, MarchlS, 1814. 

" Sir — I have the honour to forward to you enclosed, a despatch received by 
me from captain Capel, the commanding officer of the British squadron before 
this port, written in reply to an application of mine, for the release of an Ame- 
rican seaman, detained against his will on board the frigate Statira. 

" Hiram Thaj er, born in the town of Greenwich, in the commonwealth of 
Massachusetts, was impressed into the naval service of Great Britain, in the 
montli of August, 1803, and detained ever since. 

" About six years ago, wiicn the Statira was put in commission, he was trans- 
ferred 10 her ; and lias been constantly on board her to this day. 

" 1 am informed, and in fact it was stated by captain Stackpole to lieutenant 
Hamilton, v ho was charged with the flag, that the late general Lyman, our 
consid at London, made application to the lords commissioners for the discharge 
of Thayer ; but they were not satisfied with the evidence of his nativity. 

" John Thayer, the father of Hiram, assures me that the certificate of the se- 
lectmen, the town clerk, and the minister of Greenwich, were forwarded some 
time ago to Mr. Mitchell, the resident agent for American prisoners of war at 
Halifax; but does not know why he was not released then. 

" The son has written to the fatlier, and infomied him, that on representing^ 
his case to captain Stackpole, he told him, "if theyfellin -with an American man 
ofivar, and he did not do his diitif, HE SHOULD BE TIED TO THE MAST, 
AND SHOT AT LIKE A DOG." 

" On Monday the 14th inst. John Thayer requested me to allow him a flag, 
to go oif to the enemy, and ask for the release of his son. This 1 granted at 
once, and addressed a note to captain Capel, stating that I felt persuaded that 
the application of the father, fiirnished as he was with conclusive evidence df 
the nativity and. identity of the son, would induce an immediate order for his 
discharge. 

" The reply is enclosed. The son descried his father at a distance in the 
boat, and told the lieutenant of the Statira that it was his father ; and I imder- 
stand the feelings manifested by the old man, on receiving the hand of his son, 
proved, beyond all other evidence, the pi-operty he had in him. There was 
not a doubt left on the mind of a single British officer, of Hiram Thayer's being- 
an American citizen. And yet he is detained, not as a prisoner of war, but 
COMPELLED, UNDER THE MOST CRUEL THREATS, TO SERVE 
THE ENl^xMIES OF HIS COUNTRY. 

" Thayer has so recommended himself by his sobriety, industry, and seaman- 
ship, as to be appointed a boatswain's mate, and is now serving in that capacity 
in the Statira ; and he says there is due to him from the British government 
about two hundred and fifty pounds sterling. He has also assured his father that 
he has always refused to receive any bounty or advance, lest he might affin-d 
some pretext for denying him his discharge whenever a proper apphcation 
should be made for it. 

f " I am, sir, with the highest consideration, your most obedient humble ser- 
vant, STEPHEN DECATUR." 

Extract from captain CapeVs letter, enclosed. 
" On board his B. M. slap La Hog^iie, offJVexv London, March 14, 1814. 
« Sir, — I regret that it is not in my power to comply with your request in or- 
dering the son of Mr. .lohn Thayer to be discharged from his majesty's ship 
Statira. But I will forward your application to the commander in chief, by the 
earliest opportunity, and I have no doubt he will order his immediate dis- 
charge. I am, &c. THOMAS CAPEL, Captain," &.c. 

Extract of a letter from commodore Decatur to the secretary of the Jiavy. 

JVew London, May\7th,lSlA: 
" The enclosed. No. 2, is the copy of a note addressed to captain Capel of 
his B. M. ship La Hogue, on the subject of Barnard O'Brien, a native citizen of 
the United States. In the boat that bore the flag of tJUCe to tlie La Hogue, 
the father of tlie man in qviestion went. 



quAP. 37.] mPRESSMENT, 205 

" Captain Capel would not permit him to see liis Son. He directed my officer 
to inform me that he would answer my despatch the next day ; since when I 
have not heard from him." 

Lettm^ to captain Capel. 
" Sir — At Uie solicitation of Mr. Barnard O'Brien, whose son is now on board 
his Britannic majc sty's sliip La Hoguf , under your command, I have granted a 
flag- of truce, conducted by lieutenant Hamilton, with perniiss.on for Mr. < >'Brien 
to attend it. His object is to effect the liberation of his son, a native citizen of 
the United States. He bears with him a copy of the record of the town ofGro- 
ton in the state of Connecticut, signed by the town clerk and selectmen, as also 
a certificate from a number of respectable men in Groton, proving his nativity. 
With these documents 1 cannot doubt that he will effect the purpose of hi^ 
Visit. (Signed) ' STEPHEX DECATUR." 

«' Sir — We, the undersigned, take the liberty to solicit your assistance in be- 
jialf of Mr. Barnard O'Brien, in obtaining his son's release from the British ship 
La Hogue, off New-London. 

" We are well acquainted with the young man, and know him to be an Ame- 
rican born citizen. His letter to his father, dated on board the La Hogue, the 
24th of March, is sufficient proof of his being on board (which letter will be 
shown you.) If you can give any assistance in obtaining his release, either by 
letting Mr. O'Brien go to the ship by a flag of truce, or in any other way, it will 
be considered a particular favour confen-ed on, sir, your most obedient ser\ants, 
. Gerald Galley, Geo. A. SuUeman, Nath. Kimball, 

Ro. S. Avery, .Tns. Tuttle, F^rastus T. Smith. 

" P. S. The young man's name is Barnard O'Brien, son of Barnard O'Brien^ 
and his wife Elizabeth O'Brien. He was born in the town of Groton, January 
19th, 1785. Extract from the records of the toiv7i of Groton. 

A true copy, certified per Amos A. JViles, to-uin clerku 
" I certify that Amos A. Niles is town clerk for Groton, and that I believe the 
above certificate to be a tme and correct record of Bai-nard O'Brien's birth. I 
do also certify, that I have known the said Barnard O'Brien from his youtli. 
Bated Groton, April 7th, 1814. 

NOVES BARBER, Selectman for Groton. 

■UNITED STATES OF A5rERICA. 

State ofJMaryland — to tvit. 
I, John Gill, Notary Public, by lettei-s patent, under the g-reat seal of the 
state of Maryland, commissioned and duly quahfied, residing in the city of 
Baltimore, in tiie state aforesaid, do hereby certify, attest, and make known, 
tliat on the day of the date hereof, before me pei-sonally appeared, Jas. M'Quillan, 
7naster and John Wilkinson, chief mate of the sliip Strafford, of Baltimore, owned" 
by Messrs. Von Kapff and Brune, of the city of Baltimore, merchants, and made 
oath in due form of law, Tiiat while the said ship Strafford lay at anchor In the 
river Jade, say on the twenty -seventh of June, 1810, she was boarded by a boat 
from his Britannic majesty's brig of war Pincher, commanded by Samuel Bur- 
gess, which boat contained an officer and six men; that soon after they came on 
board, they impressed deponent Wilkinson, and the ship Strafford's carpenter, 
John Williamson ; and took them on board said brig- of war Pincher, where de- 
ponent Wilkinson was detained two months and twenty -two days, and then sent 
on board the Strafford ; but John Wilhamson was detained on boai-d her, and 
as deponents believe, still remains there, although said Wilkinson and said 
Williamson liad regular protections from the custom house at Baltimore ; and 
deponent Wilkinson further made oath, that at the time he was taken on board 
said brig, he was sick, and continued sick for some time, notwithstanding which 
they attempted to compel him to do ship's duty, which he refused to do ; 
when, on the 9th Jidy, eighteen hundred and ten, thev took him and TIED HIM 
TO THE GANGWAY, AND FLOGGED HIM SEVERELY, GRTXQ HIM 
EIGHTEEN LASHES ; after which he w:is threatened to be given DOUBLE 
AS MLTCH if he would not peiforni duty on board said brig ; and after some 
time (as he under.stands by the entreaties of captain M'Quillan and the Ame- 
rican consul at Bremen) he was sent onboard said ship Strafford, as before 
O. B. 28 



206 POtlTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. fcHAP. 3§. 

stated, pay on Monday the 17th September, 1810. Of which an act having been 
of me requested, I have granted these presents to serve and avail as need and 
occasion may require. 

In testimony wliereof, the said deponents have hereunto subscribed their 
names, and I, the said Notar), have hereunto set my hand and affixed my nota- 
rial seal, the nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one tliousand 
eight hunch-cd and eleven. JOHN GILL, Not. Pub. 

James M'Quillax, 

John Wilkinsov. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Subject of Impressment concluded. 

I HAVK now, as nearly in chronological order as possible, 
brought this odious, this detestable subject, to the last act of the 
drama. 

Some of the actors, who stood on high ground in the opening 
of the piece, sink far below par in this act. They stand in con- 
spicuous stations, and possess great influence on our destinies 
and those of our posterity. I regard it therefore as an impe- 
rious duty to canvass their conduct fully and completely, and to 
cite them to the bar of the public, which I thus do in the most 
solemn manner. 

Two of the gentlemen to whom I refer, are Timothy Pick- 
ering and Rufus King, esqrs. whose opinions and conduct on 
this important topic, have been, at different periods, in as di- 
rect hostility with each other, as day and night — truth and false- 
hood. 

The reader has seen how laudably, how zealously, how patri- 
otically both these gentlemen, on the subject of impressment, 
formerly contended for and defended the rights of their country 
— as well as opposed and struggled against the exorbitant and 
inadmissible claims of England. 

But they were lately united with the Olises, the Blakes, the 
Hansons, and the Websters, who appeared determined to " put 
down" — yes, reader, " put down" is the word— it is strong, 
significant, and unequivocal — I say, " to put doxvnthe admbiistra- 
tion'''' lor strenuously insisting on those rights, — for attempting 
to shield the seaman from the iron grasp of his enslaver. 

This is a clear case. I state it in brief. Either Messrs. Pick- 
ering and King were extravagant in their demands formerly, 
and endangered the peace of their country by preferring exorbi- 
tant and unjust claims on a nation, " the bidxvark of our holy re- 
ligion^'' — " strugglhig for our salvation^'' — and '■'■fighting the 
battles of Christendovi against Antichrist and his host^'' — or they 
were faithless to that country of late, and were using their ut- 
most endeavours, for factious purposes, to defeat her in the ef- 
fort to procure simple justice. There is no other alternative. 
Let them choose for themselves. Let the public ratify or reject 
the choice, I merely state the case. 



CHAP. 38.] IMPRESSIVIENT. 2,Q7 

Nevei' was there a more striking or revolting instance of the 
deleterious spirit of faction — and of its power to deaden all the 
finer and more honourable feelings of human nature, than this 
question exhibits. It is disgraceful and humdiating to the hu- 
man species. High-minded American merchants — possessed of 
immense fortunes — enjoying in profusion all the luxuries and 
delicacies this world affords — and owing these manifold bless- 
ings to the labours, the skill, and the industry of our sailors— 
but ungratefully regardless of the agents by whom diey procure 
them, and blinded by party spirit, regarded with calm and 
stone-hearted apathy the miseries of impressment. They were 
not merely indifferent to the sufferings of the unfortunate sea- 
men, " purloined by men stealers^'' from all their humble bless- 
ings, and dragging out a miserable existence, in slavery of the 
most galling kind, with a rope's end ready to punish them for 
murmuring out their sorrows. No. They were not, I repeat, 
merely indifferent. They threw themselves into the scale of 
their enemies. They derided the idea of struggling for the se- 
curity of a few sailors, whom, in the face of heaven and earth, 
and in direct contradiction to the truth, they stvled vagabonds 
from England, Ireland, and Scotland, whom our government 
was wickedly protecting at the hazard of the ruin of their coun- 
try ! Almighty father ! To what an ebb is man capable of de- 
scending ! Let us suppose for a moment that the illustrious 
Hull, Jones, Perry, Porter, Decatur, M'Donough;, or any other 
of that constellation of heroes, who have bound their country's 
brows with a wreath of imperishable glory, had been pressed by 
a Cockburn, their proud spirits subjected to his tender mercies, 
and crushed by the galling chain and the rope's end ! What a 
scene for a painter — what a subject for contemplation— what a 
never-dying disgrace to those whose counsels would persuade 
the nation to submit to such degradation ! 

There is one strong and striking point of view in which the 
subject of impressment may be considered, and which really 
renders the tame acquiescence in it, which was lately contended 
for, pregnant with awful results. England has impressed from 
our sh'ips^ Danes^ Swedes, and Italians, as well as tiative /bne. 
ricans. WE HAVE SUBMITTED TO IT. And Mr. Pick- 
ering-, Mr, King, governor Strong, H. G. Otis, £s?c. plead in 
favour of submission. If this be just, what right, I demand, 
have we to prevent all belligerents whatever, and at all times, 
from copying the example ? Suppose France, Spain, and Italy, 
at war. Are not the cruisers of each nation justified in search- 
ing our vessels for the subjects of the powers to which they re- 
spectively belong, and as fully entitled to enslave the Danes^ 
Portuguese, Swedes, and Englishmen on board, as the British 
cruizers are to enslave Frenchynen, Spaniards, Danes and Por^ 
tuguese f This is a horrible view of the subject, and must 



208 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap, 38. 

curdle the blood in the veins of every man possessed of Ame- 
rican feeling. There is no calculating the extent or the enormity 
of the evil. 

I must resume this topic. It is too important to be dismis- 
sed in a single paragraph. It deserves volumes. Would to 
heaven an abler pen were engaged in the discussion. 

That British officers have been in the constant habit of im- 
pressing, v/ithout any scruple, and that they regard it as their 
right to impress, Danes, Portuguese, Frenchmen, Italians, and 
all other foreigners found on board our vessels, is true, or 
Timothy Pickering,* Rufus King,f and Judge Marshal,:|: have 
disgraced and dishonoured themselves by asserting most awtul 
falsehoods. To their evidence on the subject, which is detailed 
above, I refer the reader. 

If Great Britain have a right to impress Frenchmen, or Spa- 
niards, or Dutchmen, on board our vessels, France, Spain, and 
Holland, have an equal right to impress Englishmen. Nothing 
can be more clear. Let us proceed. 

The British captains assert that they find it difficult or impos- 
sible to discriminate between Englishmen and Americans. It 
must be far more difficult for French captains. And they will 
be still more excusable for any jmstakes — and for enslaving 
Americans instead of Englishmen. What a frightful fate has 
faction prepared for our ill-starred sea-faring citizens ! 

I have stated that Messrs. Pickering, King, Strong, &:c. 
*' contended for submission to impressment." This requires 
explanation. They did not, it is true, iji xvords^ contend for 
impressment. But this was the inevitable result of their late 
course of proceeding ; for, as I have already stated, and beg to 
repeat, they laboured most indefatigably to destroy the present 
administration, principally for the stand made to put an end to 
impressment; and the consequence of the violent opposition 
made to the government on the subject, has been to oblige it to 
postpone the discussion of that important question, which may 
probably lead to a future war. 

A committee of the legislature of Massachusetts was appoint- 
ed, at a late session, to enquire into the affair of impressment. 
The object of the appointment was to damn the character of the 
administration, by diminishing the enormity of this high-handed 
offence, against which the Levitical law pronounced the sentence 
of death : — 

" He that stealeth a man — and selleth him — or if he be found 
in his hand^ he shall be put to death.'''* 

It is painful to state — but it is my duty to state to the world 
— that this committee by no means did justice to the subject. 
They acted with most palpable partiality. They reported— 

.' See page 190. f See pag-e 188. * See page 191, ,, 



CHAP. 38.] IMPRESSMENT. 209 

wonderful to tell — impossible to believe — that at the commence- 
ment of the war, the number of impressed Americans belonging 
to the great commercial state of Massachusetts, on board Brit- 
ish vessels of war, was " only eleven I //''* — Yes — reader — it 
is really eleven — I have read it six times over, to convince my- 
self that I was not mistaken. But it is absolutely true, that a 
committee of the legislature of Massachusetts did report to that 
body, that at the commencement of the war, THERE WERE 
BUT " ELEVEN" IMPRESSED MASSACHUSETTS' 
SAILORS on board the vessels of his Britannic majesty. 

Now, reader, let me request you to consult the preceding doc- 
uments carefully — and observe 

1. That there were ten Americans on board the Guerriere^ at 
the time of her engagement with the Constitution. This is es- 
tablished by the log book of one of her officers. § 

2. That there ruere thirteen Americans on board the yava^j 
when she Avas captured by Bainbridge.^; 

3. That there were on board the Moselle and Sappho, as ap- 
pears by the muster-books of those vessels, at least thirty-five 
impressed Americans.\\ 

4. That these plain facts stand on such ground as neither 
Timothy Pickering, Rufus King, governor Strong, George 
Cabot, Harrison Gray Otis, Daniel Webster, or A. C. Han- 
son will dare to dispute. I hereby publicly challenge them to 
a denial. 

5. That I have thus clearly and indisputably established, that 
on board of four vessels there were 10, and 13, and 35 Ameri- 
can slaves, being an average of fourteen to each. 

6. That there are about 500 British vessels constantly in com- 
mission. 

7. That an average of fourteen amounts to 7000 on board the 
British fleet. 

8. That this statement corresponds pretty nearly with the re- 
cords of the secretary of state's office. 

And then, reader, decide what judgment must be passed on 
the committee, when they gravely state, that there were on 

* Road to Ruin, Xo. IV. 

§ See page 202. f See lieutenant Hoffman's certificate, page 201. 

i: It would be unfaii' and uncandid not to state, that commodore Bainbi'idge 
deposed on the twentieth of February, 1813, before a committee of the housLt 
of representatives of the state of Massacliusctts, that there was but one im- 
])ressed American on board the Java, when he captured her. This statement 
he qualified in a subsequent communication, and, as far as I understand the lat- 
ter, admits that there were two more. But if we wholly omit the Java, in con- 
sequence of the stupendous contradiction between the ceitificate of lieutenant 
Van Hoffman and the deposition of commodore Bainbridge, it will not mate- 
rially affect the above calculation. There will remain about forty-five im- 
pressed American eamen on board three British me.n of war. 

|} See coiiynoclore Porter's letter, page 201. 



210 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 38, 

board the British vessels of war onltj eleven natives of Massa- 
chusetts ! ! ! It makes one sick to reflect on such obliquity of 
mind, and such monstrous perversion of fact. 

It is, however, true, that this committee, though the world 
is grossly deceived by the form of expression in the report, 
have a salvo to prevent establishing against them the charge of 
falsehood. They state, that these are the results, " as far as 
their enquiries zvent.^'' But this saving clause escapes the mass 
of readers. They fasten on the strong allegation, that " the ad- 
ministx-ation continued the war, on account of impressed sea- 
men ; and that there were only eleven natives of Massachusetts 
impressed.'''' All the rest escapes notice. 

'"'' As far as their enquiries xvenf is a very equivocal expres- 
sion. They may have stopped at the threshold — or they may 
have gone half way — or they may have gone through the busi- 
ness completely. That their enquiries did not go very far, is, 
however, pretty certain. 

The words " American slaves^"* will startle some delicate 
enrs. This strong expression is nevertheless correct. When 
an Algerine corsair attacks one of our vessels, and seizes it and 
the crew, the latter are justly regarded as slaves. Tet their case 
is far better than that of the Americans iiyipressed by British 
cruisers. The Algerine slaves work for task-masters. So do 
the British slaves. The Algerine slaves are flogged if they re- 
fuse " to do their duty." So are the British. The Algerine 
slaves have wretched fare. So have the British. Thus far they 
are on a parallel. But here the parallel ceases. The Algerine 
slave is never forced to jeopardize his life in battle — -he is never 
forced to point a gun that may slaughter his countrymen. But 
this the British slave must do, or " be tied to the mast, and 
SHOT AT LIKE A DOG ! !!"* Is he not then the most 
miserable of slaves ?| 

When the preceding chapter was written, I had not seen the 
Report of the Committee of the House of Representatives of 
Massachusetts, to which I have referred. I own a set of the 
Examiner, published by Barent Gardenier, of New- York, con- 
taining the Road to Ruin, ascribed to John Lowell, which quotes 
this report, and from which alone I knew of its contents, or even 
of its existence. I subjoin Mr. Lowell's quotations— 

"I find, from indlsputal)le documents furnished by the Rev. Mr. Tag-gart, 
member of (Congress from this state, that the whole number of American sea- 
men said to be detained at the beginning of tlie war, on board British vessels, 
did not exceed three hundred. 

* See commodore Decatm"'s letter, page 204. 

■j- The idea which is dilated on in this paragraph must have been suggested by 
a perusal of tlie Weekly Register, vol. III. page 349. Of this I was not awai'e 
wlien I wrote it. I have recently made the discovery in the examination of that 
irivaluable work. 



CHAP. 38.] IlVfPRESSMENT. 211 

** I find by the investigation of a committee of our own house of representa- 
tives, that the number belonging to this state, so detained, did not exceed, so 

far as their enquiries tvejit, eleven me?i."* 

On the fourth of July, 1815, I received the Report itself 
from Boston : and I should ill deserve the confidence that has 
been reposed in my work, did I not avail myself of the oppor- 
tunity thus afforded me, to lay an abstract of some of its clocu>- 
ments before the reader. 

Extract from the deposition of John Eldridge. 

" I reside in Yarmouth in the county of Barnstable. I have been the master 
of a vessel about seventeen years, within the last twenty -four years; and have 
had on board my vessels from seven to sixteen men ; on an average about eight 
or nine. About the year 1803, while I was lying at Trinidad, in the sloop 
Stork, one of my men, while on shore, had quitted his boat, and was taken up 
by the press g'ang. His name was William Boynton, and he was, as he told me, 
an American. The next day I was informed by the officer of the press gang, 
that the man was taken, and immediately upon my application on boaixl the 
ship where he was placed, he was returned to me, with some money he had 
about him. He had left his protection on board the vessel at the time when he 
was taken. 

" In 1810, while I was at Martinique, a Portuguese boy named Joseph Friay, 
belong-ing to my vessel, was impressed from tlie vessel ; he was detained two 
days : but upon my apphcation he was discharged ; he had no protection, nor 
any indenture of apprenticeship : he was a servant to my mate." 

Extract from the deposition of WiUiam Parsons. 
" I reside in Boston, and have been engaged in commerce and navigation 
about thirty years. I have employed in my vessels, annually, upon an average, 
about fifty seamen, until the time of the embargo. I have no recollection of aiw 
of my seamen being impressed for the last tiventy years, except in one instance." 

Extract from the deposition of Caleb Loring. 

"I reside in Boston. I have been engaged in commerce and navigation be- 
tween eighteen and nineteen years. 1 have employed upon an average, annu- 
ally, about forty seamen in foreign trade. 

" I recollect, at present, but one instance of any of my seamen being iinpresscd 
by the British; in July, 1809, two seamen, belonging to the ship Hugh John- 
son, while she was lying at Palermo, were taken from her by a British man of 
war; I do not knovvtheir names — one of them was an Englishman, the other was 
an American." 

Extract from the deposition of Jilosvs To~n}ise7id, esq. 

" I, Moses Townsend, of Salem, in the county of Essex, esquire, do depose 
and say — that I have been engaged in commerce and navigation for about thir- 
ty years, and was master of a ship about twenty years. I have usually had crews 
of ten and twelve men, upon an average. I never had any men impressed from 
any of the vessels under my command, except once while I was at Bristol, in 
England. On that occasion, I had three or four men impressed, belonging to 
the ship Liglit Horse, under my command ; tliey were taken in the evening, 
and upon my application through the American consul, they were released the' 
next day." 

Extract from the deposition of Joseph JMndge. 

" I, Joseph Mudge, of Lynn, in the county of Essex, mariner, do depose and 
say — ^that I have followed the occupation of a mariner for about twentv vears, 
and have been master from the first of January 1800 (except about four months 
of the year 1812, while I was mate of a vessel, in order to get a passage to 
tlie United States from abroad.) 

"I have had seamen frequently taken from me by British cruizers ; but ne- 
ver had any man that 1 knew to be an American, taken from me, that was not 
released upon my application." 

* Road to Ruin, No. 4, from the Boston Centinch See Examiner, vol. I. p. 10. 



212 VOLITICAL OUVE BRANCH, [chap. 38. 

Extract from the deposition ofJlndreiv Ilarraden. 
" I, Andrew Harraden, of Salem, in tlie county of Essex, mariner, depose and 
say — that 1 have followed the occupation of a mariner about thirty-two years, 
of which 1 ha\e been master from the year 1791 to this time, excepting two 
voyages performed during that period / have vevei- had any neamen impressed 
from my vessels, exce/H in one instance. In the year 1802, while at Cape Francois, 
in the nwnth of August, a man by the name of George Randall, of Boston, was 
taken from my vessel by a French press-master and his gang, and carried on 
board a French frigate lying at that port. On ap])lication to the commandant of 
tile port, he was released the next morning. J\'one of my men were ever taken 
or detained by the English." 

Deposition of J^'ahnm JMitchell. 
I, Nahum Mitchell, of Bridgewater, in the county of Plymouth, depose and 
say — that 1 was liorn, and have always lived, in Bridgewater. I have never heard 
of any cases of i)ersons impressed from that town. There never was any man of 
the name of William Robinson within my knowledge impressed from that place. 
1 have been a selectman five years ; but not within ten years past. 

Feb. 16, 1813. Suffolk, ss. NAHUM MITCHELL. 

Sworn before me, Alexander Towxseijd, justice of the peace. 

Deposition of William Orne. 

1, ^^'illiam Orne, of Salem, in the county of Essex, merchant, depose and 
say, 

That during the last twenty years, I have employed, upon an average, about 
sixty men annually, in my vessels. The only cases of impressment from my 
vessels, that I know of, are the following : 

In 1803, the ship Essex, Joseph Orne, master, being bound from Salem to 
Amsterdam, had a man, by the name of James Newhall, on board, who was 
impressetl on the passage. Newdiall said he was born in Windsor, in Connecti- 
cut ; and at the time of h.is being taken, told the captain of my ship, that he 
had forgotten to take out his protection from America : and the captain de- 
sired me to send it out to the consul, in London. 

I wrote to the selectmen of Windsor, who answered me, tliat there was no 
such man belonged to either of the towns of Windsor or East Windsor. Not 
long after, the man returned to Salem, and was found to be a British subject. 

In 1810, John Hanson, a Swede, was taken out of my brig Industry ; he had 
no American protection, but had a Swedish document. He soon after returned 
to Salem, and 1 have paid him off. WILLIAM ORNE. 

SUFFOLK, ss. Sworn to before me, \ 

Boston, February 19, 1813. James Savage, justice of the peace. 

Deposition of John Tucker. 

I, John Tucker, of Gloucester, in the county of Essex, do depose and say, 

That I have been master of a vessel for about forty-seven years, and until the 
last seven years. I never had any men impi'cssed from any of my vessels. 
About the year 1796, while I was lying at St. Pierre's, Martinique, an English 
oihcer from one of the frigates there, demanded a sight of the protections of 
my men ; as the laws of my country, as he said, made it necessary that my men 
sliould have them. I told him, I knew of no such law, having been absent 
about twelve months from my country. He told me, he should take my men 
on board for examination. I followed them on board ; they were detained 
about an hov.r, and then discharged. 

1 know of no case of impressment from the town of Gloucester, except the 
following : 

A relation of mine, by the name of Aaron Burnham, has been in the British 
service about two years, and says he was impressed on shore in a British port; 
lie has written home frequently, but has never expressed any desire to be dis- 
charged, that I have heard of. His father and I are very near neighbours ; and 
1 have frecjuently conversed with him, when he has informed me of receiving 
his son's letters. Hut he never stated that his son was desirous of returning. 

Daniel Parsons and Ignatius Parsons, 1 have heard, were on board the Britisk 
navy ; but 1 hu'.e no knowledge of their having been unpresscd. 



CHAP 



38.] IMPRESSAreNT. 213 



About the 3'aar 1796 (it was before our seamen took protections) while I was 
at Amsterdam, three of my men, viz. Jonathan Cook, John Medley, and John 

, an Englishman, requested a discharg'e from my vessel, and entered on 

board an English merchant ship, at that place. They went to Lisbon ; and 
while there, were impressed on shore by some British ship. Cook has since 
been home, and is now again in the British merchant service. I have never 
heard of Medley since. He has left a family in Gloucester : but they have nev- 
er apphed, to my knowledge, for a discharge. Cook and Medley were both 

Benjamin Oakes, of Gloucester, was taken about two years ago, as I have un- 
derstood, and that it was for the want of a jn-otection ; a protection has been 
sent out to him, at Halifax : and he has not yet rctui-ned. 

Nathaniel Riggs, of Gloucester, was on board a British ship, into which he 
had entered and'served, and received his wages and prize money. He has been 
at home four or five years. JOHN TUCKER. 

Boston, February 18, 1813. 

Deposition of Israel Thorndike. 
I, Israel Thorndike, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, esquire, despose and 
sav. 

That I have for a considerable part of the time, for ten or twelve years past, 
(excepting the time of the embargo) usually employed, on an average, more 
than two hundred seamen annually, on board my own vessels, and those which 
I have had under freight and charter. The average of the length of the voy- 
ages, I should tliink, was about sLx to eight mojiths; not exceecUng eight 
months. 

I have not had more than six or seven men, to my recollection, impressed 
from my vessels, and those vessels employed by me, during that pei-iod. I can- 
not no\v recollect the names of the men ; from the ship Alexander Hodgdon, 
two or three men were taken about the year 1805 or 1806. They were, as I un- 
derstood from the captain, all foreigners. I think they were shipped in Leg- 
horn ; and I think they were impressed on a voyage from that place to the East 
Indies. I do not know whether they had any protections or documents, or not ; 
and have not since heard of them- 

The brig Hector had one man impressed from her, off the isle of Prance, 
about 1803 or 1804. He was, as I was informed by the captain, a Frenchman ; 
and I am inclined to believe, he was shipped at Beverly ; but do not know 
whether he had a protection or not, nor have I heard of him smce. 

The brig , Swanzev, master, lost one man in Liverpool, about 1809. His 

name was Neptune, an African, and he had there entered into the British ser- 
vice, while in a state of intoxication, as I was informed by the supercargo. The 
man had formerly been a servant in my family. 1 have not since heard of him. 
The brig Gilpin 'had two men taken from her, while on her voyage to Russia, in 
1811, as I was informed by my clerks, who had tlieir information from the cap- 
lain. These two men were both foreigners, as I have been informed. I have 
heard nothing of them since ; nor do 1 know whether they had any protections 

Gr not. 

Daniel Parker, a British subject, who had a wife and family m Beverly, was 
impressed from one of my vessels, about twenty years since, in the Downs, or 
some other port of England. He was, as I was infonned, requested by an offi- 
cer of my vessel, at the time when he was taken, to declare that he was an 
American ; but said he would not deny his covmtry, and surrendered himself. 
This information I had from the captain of my vessel, the Fabius. He has since 
returned to his family in Beverly. I think he returned about twelve, or fifteen 
years since. I have no recollection of any other cases of impressment from any 

other vessel in which I haff a concern. 

ISRAEL THORNDIKE. 

Tlie fl'/iosiiion of Edward Lander. 
I, Edward Lander, of Salem, in the county of Essex, merchant, depose and 

say, , , 

That while I was in Leith, in the year 1811, in October, two men belonging 
to the Rachel, owned bv the honourable WilUam Gray, were taken fi'om the ves- 
O. B. ■ 29 



214 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 3^- 

sel by an English boat. Their names were Israel Foster and Tuck, of Be- 
verly, in Miissacliusetts. Foster was released the next day, or the day after, 
and returned iiome in the same vessel. The other was put on board the Dia- 
dem, sixty four, which went to sea before the application reached her. At the 
request of the captain of the Rachel, I wrote a letter to the American consul at 
London (Mr. Lyman) whicli captain Mattinly (master of the Rachel) signed and 
forwarded. The letter was written the day after the men were taken, but be- 
fore die return of the man who was released, as I have stated above. 

I have understood, since my return to this country, that Tuck effected his 
escape at Spithcad, by means of a waterman, in about one month after his im- 
pressment. They were both Americans, and had protections. 

EDWARD LANDER. 

February 18, 1813. 

The deposition of Asa T. J\re7vhall. 
I, Asa T. Ncwhall, of Lynnfield, in the county of Essex, esquire, depose and 

say, 

That I know of no cases of impressed seamen belonging to Lynnfield, except 
the following : Andrew Mansfield, of Lyjmfield, sailed from Boston about four- 
teen years ago ; and was impressed (on his first voyage) and detained onboard a 
British man of war. His brother, Isaac, being on board the same vessel from 
which he was impressed, gave the information to liis mother on liis return. 
Soon after which, his mother forwarded documents for his release. He told me 
that he was shifted into several fhfferent vessels, which, he said, he supposed 
was tlie reason why he did not receive his documents sooner. 

After being some time under impressment, and in order to obtain better treat- 
ment, he entered ; not having any prospect of being soon released ; after he 
had entered, and two or tliree years after his impressment, evidence of his be- 
ing an American reached the ship he was in. His release was refused, on ac- 
count of his having entered. He remained in the British service about seven 
years; at tlie end of which time he was discharged, and received his wages; 
he returned liome soon after. 

Amos Newhall, of Lynnfield, saUed from Boston, about nine years since, and 
has since been seen on board a British man of war, as I have understood fronj 
liis brother ; but whether he was impressed or not, his friends do not know. 

Suffolk, s. s. ASA T. NEWHALL. 

JSoston, Fcbruarij 27, 1813. 

Extract from the deposition of Josiah Ome. 

" I, Josiah Orne, of Salem, in the county of Essex, mariner, depose and say — 
that I have been master of a vessel about twenty-seven years. 

•' I never had any men impressed from the vessels under my command by the Eng- 
jisfi — except in one instance — that was in 1801." 

Extract from JWithaniel Hooper'' s deposition. 
"1, Nathaniel Hooper, of Marblehead, merchant, do depose and say — that I 
have been engaged in commerce and navigation with my father and brothers 
for about nineteen years past ; and for about seven years previous to tlie em- 
bargo, we employed usually upon an average about fifty seamen in our vessels. 
We have never had any men impressedfrom any of our vessels, that tue knoiv »/." 

Extract from Benjamin T. Reed' s deposition. 
" I, Benjamin T. Reed, of Marblehead, in the county of Essex, merchant, de- 
pose and say — that I have, with my brother, Iieen engaged in trade and naviga- 
tion for about eighteen years past. Before the embargo, we usually employed 
two vessels annually, the crews of which would be from twelve to fifteen men 
— we never liad any men impressed from our vessefc previous to the embargo, 
lo my recollection." 

Thert'. are various other depositions annexed to the Report, 
the tenor i.nd tendency whereof are generally of a similar cha- 
racter to the above. 



-cSap. 38:) IMPRESSMENT. 215 

The contradiction and inconsistency between these documents, 
and those I have produced in the preceding chapters, are so 
strong, so striking, and so utterly unaccountable, as to make us 
stand aghast with astonishment. To reconcile them in any sU .pe 
or mode is totally impossible. Were we to place full and im- 
plicit reliance upon the depositions just quoted, it wouid almost 
appear that impressment had been a matter of little or no con- 
sequence ; and that it had been most extravagantly exaggerated, 
to delude and deceive the public mind. But then what becomes 
of the strong and precise statements of Silas Talbot,^ of kulus 
King,! of Timothy Pickering,^ of judge Marshall,^ of commo- 
dore Rodgers,^ &c. witnesses who cannot possibly be suspected 
of anti- Anglican partialities, views, or prejudices i 

If the prevailing opinions of the great extent of impressment 
be unfounded, and if deception or delusion have been attempted, 
these gentlemen must have concurred in it, as well as their poli- 
tical antagonists ; for their testimony is among the most conclu- 
sive that has been produced on the subject. 

The statement of commodore Rodgcrs, respecting the muster 
books of the Moselle and Sappho, is the most recent document 
on the subject, and is beyond the reach of suspicion. 

To the reader I unhesitatingly submit the subject. Let him, 
whether Federalist or Democrat, honestly raise the scales of 
truth and justice — let him impartially weigh the evidence on 
both sides : and let him decide according to the credibility of 
these warring and irreconcilable documents. 

In addition to the information contained in the preceding 
pages, I have now before me a most powerful document on the 
subject of impressment. It is 

" A statement of applications made to the British g-overnment on 1538 cases 
of impressed seamen, claiming to be citizens of the United States, from the ele- 
venth of March, 1803, till the thirty -first of Aug-ust, 1804 ; by George Erving', 
agent of the United States for the relief and protection of their seamen." 

I subjoin an abstract : 
Number of applications, - - - • 1538 

Of which are duplicates of former ones, - 306 

Original applications, ^ _ _ _ 1232 

1538 

Refused to be discharged, having no documents. 
Ordered to be discharged, - - - 

Said not to be on board the ships specified. 
Refused to be discharged, said to have taken the 

bounty, and entered, - - - - 120 

Said to be married in England, r - 17 

1062 
*.^eepagel8'7. fSeepag^elSS. t See page^l90. §See page 191. f Seepage201. 




216 POLITICAL OLIVE BIlANCH. [ohai-. 38. 

Brought forward, . . - - lu62 

Said to have deserted, - - - - . 13 

Said to have been drowned, or died, - - 2 

Ships, on board of which stated not in commission, 3 

Refused to be discharged, said to be British subjects, 49 

Refused to be discharged, said to be prisoners of war, 2 

Do not appear to have been impressed, - - 6 

On board ships stated to be on a foreign station, 22 

Ships lost, on board of which were stated to be - 6 

Refused to he discharged^ doctunents being insiifficient^ viz. 

1. i''rotections from consuls and vice-consuls, - 88 

2. Notarial affidavits made in the United States, 15 

3. Notarial affidavits made in England, - - 27 

4. Collectors' protections, - - - 41 

5. Discharges granted from King's ships, they being 
American citizens, - - - . 4 

6. Of different descriptions, and which were kept by 

the impress officers, - - _ 35 

7. Applications yet unanswered, - - 163 

1538 

This abstract deserves to be read and examined over and over. 
Every line of it claims the deepest and most serious considera- 
tion. It appears that in less than eighteen months, twelve hun- 
dred and thirty-two persons were impressed out of American 
vessels, exclusive of the very great number, who, we may rea- 
sonably conclude, had no means of conveying their applications 
for redress to the proper organ. An entire volume might be 
written as a commentary on this memorial of British outrage 
and injustice, and of American disgrace and dishonour. 

The first item is hideous. Three hundred and eighty-three 
impressed Americans were doomed to remediless slavery, be. 
cause they were not branded with the mark U. S. or provided 
with a badge, a pass, a license, or certificate ! Suppose commo- 
dore Perry, or commodore Macdonough, or commodore Por- 
ter, had impressed three hundred and eighty-three men from on 
board of British vessels, under pretence of their being Ameri- 
cans — (and has the Almighty given any right to a British cap- 
tain or commodore beyond what he has vested in an American 
captain or commodore ?) and suppose Mr. Merry, Mr. Liston, 
Francis James Jackson, Mr. Rose, or Mr. Foster, had demand- 
ed them — and that our secretary of state had peremptorily re- 
fused to surrender them, because they had not the regular brand 
of G. R. or a proper certificate or protection, would (irtat Bri- 
tain have submitted to the slow process of further demanding 
and waiting for redress ? Indubitably not. 

One hundred and five were doomed to slavery, by a removal 
from the vessels by which they were impressed, to others. An 



CHAP. 39.] WAR PREPARATIONS. '2X7 

easy and summary process, by which the doors of redress are 
eternally barred with adamantine fastenings. 

One hundred and twenty of these sufferers were withheld 
because they had taken the bounty, or voluntarily entered ! In 
forming an estimate of the justice of this plea, we must not lose 
sight of the subsequent cruel tragedy acted by order of commo- 
dore Berkley, on board the Chesapeake, in order to seize men 
who had voluntarily entered on board that vessel. If this be 
not — give 7io right — take no zvrong — I cannot divine what dor 
serves the title. 

I am tired of this vile, this odious, this detestable subject. It 
excites to loathing and abhorrence. I must draw to a close. 
But there is one more point that I must touch upon — and that 
is, that of the whole number of fifteen hundred and thirty-eight, 
there are only forty-nine asserted to be British subjects ! The 
American, who, after these statements, can advocate the atro- 
cious practice of impressment, mus''t be utterly lost to a sense of 
justice for his countrymen, or regard to the national rights or 
national honour. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

An apology for on egregious error committed by the zurifer, 07i 
the subject of preparation for rvar. The xvhole session one 
continued series of preparations. Nineteen acts bearing- 
strong notes of martial arrangement, 

I DEEM it indispensably necessary to correct a most egregious 
error into which I was betrayed by the haste in which my first 
edition was compiled and written. I therein enumerated, among 
the errors of Mr. Madison's administration, the neglect to make 
due preparation for the war, " previous to the commencement 
of hostilities.'' I deeply regret to have cast such a superficial 
glance at the subject; to have allowed myself to be so grossly 
deceived ; and to have contributed to lead my reader astray* 
There were ample preparations made, as may be seen by the 
following list of acts passed during that session of congress, to- 
wards the close of which war was declared. 

Previous to the declaration of xvar. 

1. An act for completing the existing militaiy establishment. 
December 24, 1811. 

2. An act to raise an additional m.ilitary force. This act pro- 
vided for raising ten regiments of infantry, tv/o regiments of 
artillery, and one regiment of dragoons, to be enlisted for five 
years, unless sooner discharged. The infantry amounted to 
about 20,000 men — the artillery to 4000 — and the cavalry to 
1000. Jan. 11, 1812. 

3. An act authorising the purchase of ordnance and ordnance 
stores, camp equipage, and other quarter-master's stores and 
small arms. Jan. 11, 1812. 



218 POLITICAL OLIVe BRANCif . [chap. 39. 

4. An act authorising the president of the United States to 
accept and authorise certain volunteer militia corps, not to ex- 
ceed 50,000 men. For this purpose there was an appropriation 
of 1,000,000 dollars. Feb. 6, 1812. 

5. An act appropriating 108,772 dollars for the expenses inci- 
dent to six companies of mounted rangers. Feb. 20, 1812. 

6. An act making appropriations for the support of the mili- 
tary establishment of the United States for 1812, viz. 

For the pay of the army - - - 869,968 

Forage ----- 104,624 

Subsistence ----- 685,000 

Clothing ----- 293,804 

Bounties and premiums - . - 70,000 

Medical department - - - 50,000 

Ordnance and ordnance stores - - 1,135,000 

Fortifications ... - 296,049 

For the quarter-master's department - - 735,000 

For the purchase of horses - - - 150,000 

Contingencies ----- 50,000 

Indian department - - - - 164,000 



Militia of Louisiana, &c. 




32,000 


Passed February 21, 1812. 


S4,635,445 


7. An act making appropriations 


for the support 


of an addi- 


tional military force : 






For pay - - . 


- 


1,406,857 


Forage . - - 


- 


154,435 


Subsistence 


- 


1,074,097 


Clothing 


- 


863,244 


Bounties and premiums 


- 


442,260 


Horses for dragoons 


- 


282,000 


Quarter-master's departm£nt - 


- . 


408,760 


Medical department, 


- 


125,000 


- Contingencies - - - 


- > 


355,911 



Passed February 21, 1812. S5,l 12,564 

8. An act making appropriations for the support of the navy 

of the United States, for 1812. 

Pay and subsistence - - - - Si, 123, 341 

Provisions ----- 559J57 

Medicines ----- 40,000 

Repairs of vessels - - _ « 315,000 

Freight, store-rent, &c, - - - 115,(^00 

Navy yards, &c. - - - - 60,000 

Ordnance and ordnance stores - - • . 280,000 

Saltpetre, sulphur, &c. - - - 180,000 

Pay and subsistence of marine corps - - 154,346 



CHAP. 39.1 WAR PREPARATIONS. 219 

Clothing for marine corps - - - 49,281 

Military stores for do. _ - . 1,777 

Medicines, &c. . - - - 3,501 

Quarter-master's stores - - , . 20,000 



Passed February 24, 1812. 2,902,003 

9. An act making a further appropriation for the defence of 
our maritime frontier. This act appropriated for the purpose 
8500,000. Passed March 10, 1812. 

10. An act for a loan of gl 1,000,000 for defraying the above 
expenses. Passed March 14, 1812. 

11. An act concerning the naval establishment, for repairing 
the frigates Constellation, Chesapeake, and Adams. For this 
purpose there was appropriated S300,000. 

By this act there was an appropriation made of S200,000 an- 
nually, for three years, for the purchase of a stock of timber for 
ship-building. The first appropriation was for rebuilding the 
frigates Philadelphia, General Green, New- York, and Boston, 
Passed March 30, 1812. 

12. An act in addition to the act to raise an additional mili- 
tary force. Passed March 30, 1812. 

13. An act to authorise a detachment from the militia of the 
United States, to the amount of 100,000 men. This act con- 
tained a clause appropriating one million of dollars towards de- 
fraying the expenses to accrue under it. Passed April 10, 1812. 

14. An act for the organization of a corps of artificers. Pas- 
sed April 23, 1812. 

15. An act for the better regulation of the ordnance. Passed 
May 14, 1812. 

Subsequent to the declaration of war, 

16. An act for the more perfect organization of the army of 
the United States. Passed June 26, 1812. 

1 7. An act making a further appropriation for the defence of 
the maritime frontier, and for the support of the army of the 
United States. Passed July 5, 1812. 

18. An act making additional appropriations for the military 
establishment, and for the Indian department. Passed July 6, 
1842. 

19. An act making further provision for the army of the Uni- 
ted States. Passed July 6, 1812. 

It therefore appears, that nearly the whole session was spent 
in making preparation for hostility — for offensive and defensive 
operations. I shall not easily forgive myself the very extraor- 
dinary error, of which I have acknowledged myself guilty on 
this subject. I shall regard it as a monition as long as I live, 
against precipitate decision. And may I take the liberty of 
hinting to the reader, whoever he be, that he may derive a use- 



220 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 40. 

fill lesson from the fact ? If, with the attention I have been in 
the habit of paying to public aftairs — i-eadin^ two or three news- 
papers every day — and perfectly convinced of the justice of the 
war — I have nevertheless fallen into such a palpable, such a 
monstrous error, on so plain a point — if I have brought so un- 
just an accusation against the congress which declared war — 
how dilBcult may it be for persons remote from opportunities of 
judging correctly, and liable to be misled by interested or fac- 
tious men, to form accurate opinions ? 

A further and most convincing proof of the magnitude of the 
error which I committed, is to be found in the circumstance, 
that on the 12th of July, 1812, only twenty-four days after the 
declaration of war, general Hull, at the head of two thousand 
five hundred men, well appointed, had penetrated into Canada: 
and, had the same talents and bravery that displayed themselves 
at Yorktown, Chippewa, Bridgewater, the Sarenac, New- 
Orleans, and other places, presided over their movements, there 
is no doubt that in the first campaign, the whole of Upper (.an- 
ada, and perhaps Lower Canada, with the exception of Quebec, 
might have been subdued. This army had 3750 muskets, 36 
pieces of cannon, 1080 rounds of fixed ammunition for the can- 
non, 200 tons of cannon ball, 150 tons of lead, 75,000 musket 
cartridges made up, &c, &c. &c,* 

CHAPTER XL. 

Rep7-oachcs of the minority against the imbecility of the 7)iajority* 
Pernicious consequences of newspaper misrepresentation. Bri- 
tish deceived by their friends. 

While the serious preparations detailed in the preceding 
chapter were going forward, the federal printers throughout the 
union were pretty generally and zealously employed in ridicul- 
ing the idea of war — persuading the public that all these mea- 
sures were illusory, and intended to intimidate the British min- 
istry — and that our government possessed neither the courage 
nor the means to venture on hostility. 

I have already quoted the notorious declaration made by se- 
veral members of congress, particularly Mr. Josiah Quincy,that 
*' the majority could not he kicked into rvar.''^ 

This course of proceeding is not easily accounted for. It 
must have had some motive. And it requires an extraordinary 
degree of charity to ascribe it to a motive either laudable, or in 
fact not highly sinister or patriotic. 

Suppose, for a moment, that our rulers did not really mean 
war — that they were actually destitute of the means of carrying 
it on — that they were " too cowardly to be kicked into if — was it 

* See Weekly Register, vol. 3. page 93!; 



CHAP. 40.] NEWSPAPER MISREPRESENTATION. 221 

wise, was it prudent, was it honourable, was it politic, to blazon 
our deficiencies to the world — to assure England that she might 
safely, and with impunity, continue the perpetration of her out- 
rages on an unoffending neutral, because that neutral could not 
be kicked into war to resist those outrages ? Surely not. 

In pursuance of the plan I have followed throughout this 
work, of establishing all points of importance bv intiisputable 
evidence, I subjoin a few of the paragraphs to which I refer. 
The two first are of a date much earlier than the declaration of 
war — and prove how long this system had been pursued. They 
will satisfy the most incredulous reader. 

Smoke / Smoke ! 

*' Our correspondent sng-gests, in the event of certain measures already 
taken by the executive faihug', then to augment the force by new levies — or by 
forming ten corps of 1200 men each, to be selected from the militia of a certain 
age of the several states, who may volunteer for such coi-ps during the war. It 
is to us a most astonishing and inconceivable thing", that on reading the above, 
any man should be alarmed, and think our government are about to take deci- 
sive steps. Will our administration never be understood? Shall we forever be 
the dupes of a contemptible farce, which has been exliibiting for years, to 
make people wonder and stare ? My life on it, our executive has no more idea 
of declaring war than my grandmother." Boston Repertory, January 9, 1810. 

" Our government ivill not make ivar on Great Britain ,- but m ill keep up a 
constant irritation on some pretence or other, for the sake of maintaining their 
influence as a party. The more tlie public suffer, the more iriitable they will 
be ; and government will trust to their address to direct that irritability against 
Great Britain." Boston Repertory, April 17, 1810. 

"The 25,000 men bill passed congress — and in this city [New York] the 
sensation produced by it was not lialf equal to tliat which was caused by the 
governor's notice of banks. Mr. G;dlatin recommended a whiskey tax, &c. and 
every body laughed to think what a queer thing it was for a man, who had 
figured so much in the whiskey insurrection, to be tlie author of such a mea- 
sure. The New York Gazette, however, still graced its columns, and we too 
sometimes, with " for Live i-pool — for London," &c &c. The committee of Vv-ays 
and means at last come out witli their Pandora's box of taxes. Yet nobodii dreams 
of -war. Tlie mechanics, the banks, nay the insurance offices go on as usual, 
iast of all the loan for 11,000,000 of dollars — Still no alteration of the public pulse 
— no concern by friend or foe of administration. All is well ! In the name of 
wonder, how or why is all this ! Exposed as the city of New York is, wliy this 
secui'lty, this apathy ? Are all the proceedings of government a farce, and that 
so palpable a one, as to be undei-stood by the most stupid ? Or what is tlie rea- 
son that not the slightest anxiety is felt by ourselves ? if government is in ear- 
nest, why have they not, why do they not proceed more rapidly ? IVhy is ow 
shipping permitted to run into certain capture? Either the government is m stfalse 
and hiipocritical, or tlie people out of their senses?" New York Evening Post, 
Feb. 1812. 

" When I see such a palpable failure in all the means, natural and necessary, 
for carrying on the wax* — when I see the exposure of your sea-board — when I 
see the actual military force, instead of being increased in efficiency, in fact 
reducing, neitlier promises, nor asseverations, nor oaths, shall make me believe that 
you -ivill go to war at the end of ninety days. Opposuit natttra. Nature has de- 
cided again.st you. Instead of that feast of war, to which we were invited, at 
the beginning of the session, we have served up to us the old dish of restrictions 
There is no need of prophecy to tell the result. At the end of ninety days, you 
will find that your preparation is not sufficient. The horrors of war will be 
preached up very assiduously during our recess. Familiarity with em'uargo will 
diminish its di-ead. The restrictive system becomes identified with some per- 
O. B. 30 



222 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [vaxv. 40. 

sonal, local, paltry interest. The navigating states are sacrificed ; and the 
spirit and character of the country are prostrated in the dust, by fear or by 
avarice." Mr. Quiucey's speecii oii the embargo, April 3, lbl2. 

" The project of attacking Canada is now given up. Some other plan is to 
be devised." Philadelphia Gazette, January 30, 1812. 

" They [tlie leaders of congix-ss] have already gone far enough in war. They 
are conscious tliev cannot commence, prosecute, and terminate a war ; that the 
hands wliich begin will never hnish it. They shnnkfrom it. They already stag- 
ger under the lueight. 

" They are frightened as the aspect becomes a little serious, and wish to go home 
and think of it." Philadelphia Gazette, January 2U, 18i2. 

" If \ ou think a vote to raise 25,UU0 men, looks like war, qniet your appre- 
hensions. Vou do not understand wliat is here called management. THKRE 
WILL, AS I BB'.IEVE, BE NO WAR. The xvar whoop, the orders in council, 
the wm-importation, and pri'sidential caucusing will vanish before summer." — 
Baltiinore FedenU Gazette, as quoted in the Piiiladelphia Gazette, January 13, 
1812. 

•' 1 tell A ou James Madison will not dare to march a man to Canada with the 
avowed spirit of warfare — not a man, sir — no — not one — in our present defence- 
less state. So no more of this dream.'" Philadelphia Gazette, Jan. 27, 1812. 

" We are firmlv persuaded, that the majority in congress do riot mean to de- 
clare war at present ,- 'ITIAT THEY DARE NOT ; and that all their threats are 
but contemptible vapouring, which will die away like the vapourings of a drunk- 
en man, l)efore theyrse." Boston Repertory, Dec. 24, 1811. 

" There will be much talk and little business this session. WAR IS OUT 
OF THE QUESTION. But it was determined in caucus last Sunday evening, 
to look big, and keep a stiff tipper lip." Philadelphia Gazette, November 9, 
1811. 

" It is amazingly mal-a-propos, and moreover very vexatious, that while our 
centinels of pubhc Uberty are legislating away in "The full tide of successful 
experiment" at Washington, their well laid plans are failing every where; the 
two main sinews of their darlivq; war, appear to be most miserably lelaxed. NEI- 
THER MEN ARE TO BE HAD— NOR MONEY TO PAY THEM." Alex- 
andria Gazette, as quoted in tiie Philadelphia Gazette, May 14, 1812. 

This paragraph was published only five weeks before the de- 
claration of war. It was, with hundreds of others of siinilar 
character, calculated to keep up the delusion to the last, at home 
and abroad. 

During the period when those paragraphs were publishing in 
our Gazettes, I felt the most serious uneasiness on the subject. 
I believed their effect wotild be to produce war. I repeatedly- 
expressed my fears on the subject, and was convinced that they 
would delude England into a belief, that she might laugh our 
efforts to scorn — and that she would persevere in her obnoxious 
course till we were finally " kicked into -warP Among other 
gentlemen to whom I communicated my apprehensions on this 
subject, were James Milnor, Adam Seybert, and William An- 
derson, csqrs. then representatives in Congress from this state. 
It was in the gallery of the house of representatives, and, as far 
as I recollect, early in May, 1812. 

The efforts to spread this delusion were not confined to this 
side of the Atlantic. No. The same industry was empl. yed 
in letters to correspondents in England and Ireland, which made 
their appearance in the public papers in those kingdoms. Never 
was more ,<pplication employed on any subject — and never was 
application more unholy or pernicious. 



CHAP. 40.] NEWSPAPER MISREPRESENTATION. 223 

I submit to the reader, an extract from one of those letters. 
It is a fair speci.ien of hundreds which really appear to have 
been dictated by the most serious apprehensions lest the British 
should relax^ and lest we might thus escape war. 

From the Londonderry Journal, June 16, 1812. 

Extract of a letter to a gentleman in this place, dated 

Philadelphia, May 8, 1812. 
*' You will perceive by the copy of a bill wiiich I enclose, that we Americans 
are " at our (Urty work again.''' But / advise yon not to be alanned at the violence 
of our proceedings Jf'e shall coiitimie to bluster. This is our characteristic. And 
■we li'ould do more, if -we cotdd. But it is not in our poiver. We have not a dol~ 
lar in t/ie treasitry — no army deserving the name of one — and are actually ivlihout 
a navy. Added to this, not a moiety of the loan of eleven millions will ever be pro- 
cured." 

I wish the reader, before he closes this chapter, to weigh well 
its contents. Let him dive into the most profound recesses of the 
human heart. Let him try to discover the main spring that 
dictated paragraphs and letters, fraught with such ruinous con- 
sequejices to both nations. 

The effect of this vile course of proceeding was highly per- 
nicious in two points of view, widely different from each other. 
It fatally held out every possible encouragement to the British 
ministry to persevere in the career of depredation on American 
commerce, and in their utter disregard to, and violation of, the 
rights and the sovereignty of the United States. It was, more- 
over, calculated to goad, and I have no doubt did contribute to 
goad, our rulers into war. 

Reader, let me illustrate this point by a plain case which oc- 
curs in our streets every day. Two boys have a quarrel — but 
are not very willing to come to an open rupture, lest their eyes, 
and noses, and mouths, should suffer violence in the affray. 
Some of the humane spectators pat them on the backs, and try 
to persuade each that his antagonist "■ cannot be kicked into xvar''"' 
— at the same time appealing to his pride to resent the- insult. 
This laudable course seldom fails of success. The united in- 
fluence of regard for his own honour, and reliance on his an- 
tagonist's cowardice, excites the courage of one or both just to 
the point of aggression. This was the horrible result between 
the United States and England, of a procedure which never can 
be too highly censured. 

I could pursue this subject to a very great extent. It admits 
of a wide field of investigation : but I leave it with the reader. 
I have barely erected a finger post to direct his career. 

I am fully persuaded that Great Britain did not desire actual 
war with the United States Had her ministers really believed 
the alternative to be, war, or a repeal of the orders in council, 
they would, in all probability, have repealed them in season. But 
their friends on this side of the Atlantic most cruelly deceived 



224 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 41. 

them. Every clay's experience proves that one indiscreet^ im- 
p7-udent^ or injudicious, friend does more injury than three ene- 
7nies. The friends of England in this country have afforded 
undeniable proofs of the correctness of the maxim. The writers 
whom I have quoted above, and others of similar character, have 
inflicted on her more injury than ten times the number of the 
most violent anti- Anglicans in the country. 

CHAPTER XLI. 

War proceedings in congress. T'e as and nays. hicxpUcable conduct. 

This, rc;ader, is a dry and dull chapter. It is little more than 
reiteratt d lists of nanies. It cannot afford much entertainment. 
But ii you have fairlv travelled with me thus far, I deprecate 
your passincr over these few pages. What they may want in 
entertainment, I hope they will compensate in instruction. 

When the vote was finally taken on the declaration of war^ 
there were forty-nine members in the negative, whose names 
are subjoined — 

Nays — Messrs. Baker, Bartlett, Bleecker, Boyd, Breckenridg'e, Bris-ham, 
Champion, Chittenden, Cooke, Davenport, Ely, Rmolt, Fitch, Gold, Coldsbo- 
roug-h,' Hufty, Jackson, Kc y. Law, Lewis. Maxwell, M'Bryde, Metcalf, IVVi'nor, 
Mitchill, Mostly, Newbold, Pearson, Pitkin, Potter, Quincy, Kandol()h, Reed, 
Ridg-ely, Rodman, Saminons, Stanford, Stewart, Stow, Sturges, Sullivan, Tag- 
jart, I'alrnadge, Tallman, Tracy, Van Cortlandt. Wheaton, White, Wilson. — 49. 

» I annex a statement of the votes on various measures prepa- 
ratory to war. Tlie names of those who finally voted against 
the war, are in Italic. 

December, 16, 1811. 

" The question was taken on the following resolution : 

•' That it is expedient to authorise the President, under proper regulations, 
to accept the service of any number of volunteers, not exceeding fitty thousand; 
to be organized, trained, and held in readiness to act on such service as the 
exigencies of government may require . 

" And decided thus : 

" Yeas — Alston, Archer, Aver}-, Bacon, Baker, Bard, Bartlett, Bassett, Bibb, 
Pl.ackledgc, Jilcecker, Blount, Boyd, Breckeiiridge, Brown, Ikirwell, Butler, 
Calhoun, Cheeves, Chittendtn, Cochran, Clopton, Cooke, Condit, Ci-av.ford, 
Davis, Dawson, Desb.a, Dinsmoor, EmoU, Findley, Fisk, Fitch, Franklin. Ghol- 
son. Gold, Gohkborongh, Coodwyn, . Green, Grundy, B. Hall, O. Hall, Hawes, 
Harper, hfufuj, Hyneman, Johnson, Kent, King, Lacock, Lefevrc, Little, Living- 
ston,. Lowndes, Lyle, Macon, Mux-well, Moore, JIP Bri/de, M'Coy, M'Kec, 
M'Kini, Af'tvaJf, Mlwtr, Mitcldll, Morgan, MoiTOW, J/osf'/'j/, Nelson, JVe-whold, 
Newton, Onnsby, Paulding, Pearson, Pickens, Piper, Pitkin, Pond, Porter, 
Qmncij, Peed, Ridgelii, llinggold, Ilhea, Roane, Roberts, Rodman, Sage. Sam- 
W071S, Seaver, Sevier, Seybert, Shaw, ShefFey, Smilie, G.Smith, Sto-r, Strong, 
Stdlivan, Tahnadge, 'railman, Tracy, Troup, Turner, Van Cortlandt, White, 
Whitehill, Wilhams, Widgery, Wilson, Winn, Wrlglit. — 113. 

" Navs — Messrs. Bigclow, Urigham, Champion, Davenport, Ely, Gray, Jack- 
son, La-v, Le-ivis, Potter, Randolph, J. Smith, Stanford, Sturges, Taggart, 
'Wheaton — 16. 



cpAP.41.] WAR PROCEEDINGS. 225 

Same day. 

" The question was next taken on the foui-th resolution of the committee on 
foreign relations, in tlie following words : 

" 'I'liat the President be authorised to order out from time to time, such de- 
tachments of tile militia, as in his opinion the public service may require ; 

" And decided as follows : 

« Yeas — Messrs. Alston, Anderson, Archer, Avery, Bacon, Bakei; Bard, 
Bartlett, Basset, Bibb, Blackledge, Bleecker, Blount, Boifd, BrecLenridge, 
Brown, Burwell, Butler, Calhoun, Cheeves, Chittenden, Coclu-an, Clopton, 
Cooke, Condit, Crawford, Davis, Dawson, Desha, Dinsmoor, Earle, Emott, 
Findley, Fisk, Fitch, Franklin, Gliolson, Gold, Goldsborough, Goodwin, Gray, 
Green, Gmndy, B. Hall, (5. Hall, Harper, Hawes, Hufty, Hyneman, Johnson, 
Kent, Iving, Lacock, Lefevre, Lewis, Little, Livingston, Lowndes, Lyle, Ma- 
con, Maxwell, Moore, M' Bride, M'Coy, M'Kee, M'lvim, Metcalf, Mihiui; Mit- 
chill, Morgan, Moitow, Mo^ely, Nelson, j\'e~,vbold, Newton, Ormsby, Paukhng-, 
Pearson, Pickens, Piper, Pitkin, Pond, Porter, Potter, Qidncy, Randolph, Reed, 
Ridgeley, Ringgold, Rhea, Roane, Roberts, Rodman, G. Smitli, J. Smith, Stan- 
ford, Strong, Sullivan, Tabnadge, Tallman, Tracy, Troup, Tiu-ner, Van Cort- 
landt, Wlieaton, White, VVliiteiull, WilUams, Widgery, Wilson, Winn, Wriglit. 
—120. 

" Nays. Messi's. Bigelow, Brigham, Champion, Davenport, Jackson, Latu, 
Stnrges, Taggart. — 8. 

Same day. 

" The question was taken on the fifth resolution, in the words following : 

" That all the vessels not now in sei'vice belonging to the navy, and worthy 
of repair, be immediately fitted up and put in commission, 

" And carried as follows : 

" Yeas. Messrs. Alston, Anderson, Archer, Avery, Bacon, Baker, Bard, 
Bartlett, Basset, Bigelow, Blackledge, Bleecker, Blount, Brcckenridge, Brig- 
ham, Burwell, Butler, Calhoun, Champion, Cheeves, Chittenden, Cochran, Clop- 
ton, Coo^'e, Condit, Crawford, Davis, Dawson, Desha, Dinsmoor, Earle, Ely, 
Emott, Findley, Fitch, Frankhn, Gholson, Gold, Goldsborough, Goodwyn, Green, 
Grundy, B. Hall, O. Hall, Harper, Hawes, Hyneman, Jackson, Johnson, Kent, 
King, Lacock, Law, Lefevre, Little, Livingston, Lowndes, Lyle, Maxwell, 
Moore, M' liryde, M'Coy, M'Kim, Metcalf, Milnor, Mi f chill, Morgan, Morrow, 
Mosely, Nelson, jYewbold, Newton, Ormsby, Paulding, Pearson, Pickens, Piper, 
Pitkin, Pond, Porter, Quincy, Reed, Ridgeley, Ringgold, Rhea, Roane, Roberts, 
Sage, Sammons, Seaver, Seyier, Seybert, Shaw, G. Smith, Strong, Stnrges, Sul- 
livan, Taggart, Tabnadge, Tallman, Tracy, I'roup, Turner, Van Cortlandt, 
fVheaion, White, Widgery, Wi/sw;, Winn, Wright. — 111. 

" Nays. Messrs, Bibb, Boyd, Brown, Gray, Hufty, Lewis, Macon, Potter, 
Randolph, Rodman, Shefi'ey, Srailie, Stanford, Whitehill, Williams. — 15.. 

December 19, 1811. 

" The question was taken on the following resolution, and carried. 

" That it is expedient to permit our merchant vessels, owned exclusively by 
resident citizens, and commanded and navigated solely by citizens, to arm un- 
der proper regulations to be prescribed by law, in seU-defence against all un- 
lawfid proceedings towards them on the high seas. 

"Yeas. Messrs. Alston, Anderson, Avery, Bacon, Baker, Basset, Bibb, 
Bigelow. Blackledge, Bleecker, Breckenridge, Brigham, Biitler, f'allioun. 
Champion, Clieeves, Chittendai, Clopton, Cooke, Condit, Crawford, Davenport, 
Davis, Dawson, Desha, Dinsmoor, Ely, Findley, Fitch^ Franklin, Gholson, Gold, 
Goldsborough, Goodwyn, Green, Grundy, B. Hall, O. Mall, Harper, Hawes, Hyne- 
man, Jackson, Johnson, King, Lacock, Lnntu, l.efevre. Little, Livingston, Lyie, 
Maxwell, Moore, JVtBryde, M'Coy, Metcaf, Milnor, Morgan, Mosely, Nelson, 
JVewbold, Newton. Ornisby, Paulding, Pearson, Pickens, Piper, Pitkin, PJea- 
santS; Pond, Porter, Pearson, Quincy, Jieed, Rir'geley, Ringgold, Rhea, Koane, 
Sago, Sammons, Seaver, Sevier, Shaw. Kmilie, J. Smith, Stuw, Stnrges, Taggart, 
TaU):i'2n. Tjyjc!/, Troup, Turner, Van Cortlandt, Whenton, White, Widgery, Wil-_ 
son, Bartlett, Potter.— 97. 



226 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 41. 

" Nays. Messrs. Archer, B:irtl, Blount, Boyd, Brown, Cochran, Hitfty, Kent, 
Lowndes, Macon, M'Kee, M'Kiin, Mitchill, Morrow, Roberts, Rodman, SheH'ey, 
Stanford, iSte^vart, Whitehill, Williams, Wright — 22." 

" January 6, 1812. 

" The house took up the bill for raising an additional military force, which 
finally passed, 94 to 34. The yeas and nays were as follows : 

" Yeas Messrs. Alston, Anderson, Arclier, Avery, Bacon, Bard, Bartlett, 
Basset, Bibb, Blackledge, Bleecker, Blount, Brown, Burwell, Butler, Calhoun, 
Cheeves, Clay, Cocliraii, Ciopton, Condit, Crawford, Davis, Dawson, Desha, 
Dinsmoor, Earle, Emott, Kuicilcv , Fisk, Franklui, Gholson, Gold. Green, Grundy, 
R Hall, O. Hull, Hurper, Hawes, Hyneman, Johnson, Kent, King, Lacock, Le- 
fevre. Little, Livingston, Lowndes, Lyle, Maxivell, Moore, M'Coy, M'Kee, 
M'Kim, Mctculf, Milnor, Mitchill, Morgan, Morrow, Nelson, New, Newton, 
Ormsby, Vaulding, Pickens, Piper, Pond, Porter, Quincy, Reed, Ringgold, Rhea, 
Roane, Roberts, Sage, Samnwns, Seaver, Sevier, Seybert, Shaw, G. Sujith, J. 
Smith, Strong, Sultivmi, Tallman, Talliaferro, Tracy, Troup, Turner, Van Cort- 
landt, Williams, Widgery, Wmn, Wright — 94. 

" Nays. Messrs. Bigelow, Boyd, Breckenridge, Brigham, Champion, Chitten- 
tlen, Davenport, Ely, Fitch, Hufty, Jackson, Key, Law, Lexvis, Macon, JVVBryde, 
Mosdy, JVexvbold, 'Pearwn, Pitkin, Potter, Randolph, Rodman, Sheffey, Smilie, 
Stanford, Stewart, Stoxv, Stiirges, Taggart, Tallmadge, Wheaton, White, Wilson 
—34. 

" January 20, 1812. 

" The engrossed bill concerning the naval establishment was read the third 
time and passed. The yeas and nays on its passage were as follows : 

"Yeas. Messrs. Alston, Anderson, Basset, Blackledge, Breckcnridge, Bur- 
well, Butler, Calhoun, Cheeves, CIdttenden, Condit, Davenport, Davis, Dins- 
moor, Ely, Emott, I'indley, Fisk, Fitch, Frankhn, Gholson, Goodwin, Green, 
Harper, Hawes, Hyneman, King, Little, Livingston, Lowndes, Maxwell, .Moore, 
JWBryde, M'Coy,'.M'Kim, Milnor, Mitchill, Nelson, Newton, Pitkin, Pleasants, 
Pond, Potter, Richardson, Ringgold, Rhea, Seybert, Shefiey, G. Smith, J, 
Smith, Stewart, Sioxu, Sturges, Taggart, Talliaferro, Tracy, Troup, Turner, 
Van Cortlandt, Wheaton, White, Wilson, Winn, Wright — 65. 

" Nays. Messrs. Bacon, Bibb, Boyd, Brown, Cochran, Crawford, Desha, O. 
Hall, Hufty, Johnson, Lacock, Lyle, Macon, M'Kee, Metcalf, Morgan, Mitchill, 
New, JV«f6oW, Piper, Roane, Roberts, Rodman, Sage, Seaver, Shaw, Smihe, 
Sanford, Strong, M'illiams — 30. 

" February 19, 1812. 

" The engrossed bill for authorising a loan of eleven millions of dollars, was 
read the th'irtl time, and the question was put " shall the bill pass its third 
reading." 

" Yeas. Messrs. Alston, Anderson, Archer, Bacon, Bard, Basset, Bibb, 
Bleecker, Boyd, Bi-own, Burwell, Butler, Calhoun, Cheeves, Clay, Cochran, 
Condit, Crawford, Davis, Dawson, Desha, Dinsmoor, Earl, Emott, Findley, Fisk, 
Franklin, Gholson, Gold, Goodwyn, Green, Grundy, B. Hall, O. Hall, Harper, 
Hawes, Hufty, Johnson, Kent,' King, Lacock, Lefevre, Little, Livingston, 
Lowndes, Lyle, Macon, Maocwell, Moore, M'Coy, M'Kim, Metcalf, Mitchill, 
Morgan, Morrow, Nelson, New, Newbold, Newton, Ormsby, Pickens, Piper, 
Pleasants, Pond, Porter, Potter, Quincy, Reed, Richardson, Ringgold, Rhea, 
Roane, Roberts, Sage, Sammons, Seaver, Sevier, Seybert, Shaw, Smilie, G. 
Smith, J. Smith, Stow, Strong, Tracy, Troup, Tui-ner, Van Cortlandt, Whiteliill, 
Widgery, Winn, Wright— 92. 

" Nays. Messrs. ^aArer', Bigelow, Breckenndge, Brigham, Champion, Chitten.- 
den, Davenpnrt, Fitch, Goldsborough, Gray, Jackson, Law, J^ewis, Milnor, Mose- 
ly, Pearson, Pitkin, Randolph, Ridgeley, Rodman, Sheffey, Stewart, Sturges, Tag- 
gart, Tallmadge, IVheaton, White, fVikon — 29.' 



I 'J 



CHIP. 42.] DECLARATION OF WAR. 227 

I hope the reader has fully examined those dry lists, and has 
his mind prepared for the reflections I have to submit upon 
them. 

No man will deny that a public functionary who acts witla 
gross and manifest inconsistency in his political career, especially 
in matters of the highest possible importance to his constituents, 
forfeits their confidence. Of course it is extremely dangerous 
to submit to his guidance. 

The war was either just or unjust. 

Every man who believed it unjust, and who voted for a series 
of measures leading to it, betrayed his trust. 

Every man who voted for the measures leading to war; who 
opposed it after it was declared ; and who, as far as in his power, 
thwarted the measures adopted to carry it on, was guilty of a 
gross, manifest, and palpable inconsistency — and in either one or 
other course betrayed his trust. 

That these positions are correct cannot be denied. I proceed 
to apply them — and shall single out an individual to make the 
case more striking. 

Josiah Quincy voted, as we have seen, jTor a set of measures y 
all predicated upon an approaching zvar. He voted for the loan 
to raise the money necessary to give ejffect to those measures. He, 
and forty-eight other 7neml>ers^ xvho had generally votedwith him. 
for all these preparatory measures^ voted against the rear itself 
And further^ they did not merely vote against the rvar^ but thirty- 
four of them published a most inflammatory protest^ addressed to 
their constituents^ to excite them to oppose it. This protest, and 
other violent measures, were fatally but too successful. 

I annex the names of the protestors. 

Messrs. Brigham, Big-elow, M'Bride, Breckenridge, Baker, Bleecker, Cham- 
pion, Chittenden, Davenport, Emett, Ely, Fitch, Gold, Goldsborough, .Tackson, 
Key, Lewis, Law, Mosely, Milnor, Potter, Pearson, Pitkin, Quincy, Reed, 
Ridgeley, Sullivan, Stewart, Sturges, Tallmadge, Taggart, White, Wilson, 
Wheaton. 

The whole of the annals of legislation, from the first organiza- 
tion of deliberative bodies to this hour, cannot produce a more 
sinister^ dark^ or mysterious policy. These gentlemen, particu- 
larly Mr. Quincy, who has been so conspicuous in his opposition 
to the war, are most solemnly cited before the bar of the public, 
and called upon to explain the motives of their conduct to that 
country, which was brought to the jaws of perdition by the op- 
position which they excited against a war that they countenanc- 
ed in almost every stage but the last. 

CHAPTER XLII. 

Declaration of war. Violently opposed. 

At length, on the 18th of June, 18i2, v^ar was declared 
.against Great Britain in due form, after a session of above seven 



228 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 42. 

months, and the most ardent debates. The final vote was carried 
in the senate by 19 to 13 — and in the house of representatives by 
79 to 49 : affirmatives in both houses 98, negatives 62 ; that is, 
more than three to two, in both houses united.* 

War then became the law of the land. It was the paramount 
duty of all good citizens to submit to it. Even those who doubt- 
ed its justice or expediency, and who had opposed its adoption, 
were bound to acquiesce : for the first principle of all republican 
government, — and of all government founded on reason and jus- 
tice, is, that the will of the majority, fairly and constitutionally 
expressed, is the supreme law. To this supreme law the minori- 
ty is sacredly bound to submit. Any other doctrine is Jacobin- 
ical, and disorganizing, and seditious. It has a direct tendency 
to overthrow all government, and introduce anarchy and civil 
war. If it were lawful for the minority, in the unparalleled mode 
they adopted, to oppose or paralize the government, and defeat 
its measures, on the pretext that they were unjust, such pre- 
texts can never be wanting. And I aver, that it xvoiild he full as 
just^ as rig'hteous^ as legal^ and as constitutional^ for Mr. Holmes^ 
at the head of the minority in Massachusetts^ to besiege governor 
Strong^-in his hoiise^ and coerce him to retire from office^ as it 
XV as for- tilt Kings^ the Websters^ the Hansons^ and the Gores ^ to 
besiege president Madison at Washington. 

While the federalists held the reins of government, they in- 
culcated these maxims with great energy and eflPect. The least 
opposition to law excited their utmost indignation and abhor- 
rence. The vocabulary of vituperation was exhausted to brand 
it and its perpetrators with infamy. But to enforce rules which 
operate to our advantage, when we have power, and to submit 
to those rules, when they operate against us, are widely different. 
And the federalists, as I have already remarked, abandoned, 
when in the minority, the wise and salutary maxims of political 
economy which they had so eloquently preached when they were 
the majority. 

And they were not satisfied with mere preaching. They had 
occasional recourse to violence. A band of Philadelphia volun- 
teers, during the western insurrection, seized a printer at Read- 
ing in his own house, by force and violence, and scourged him 
in the market-place for a libel, not the twentieth part as virulent 
as those that are at present daily published with impunity. 

War is undoubtedly a tremendous evil. It can never be suf- 
ficiently deplored. It ought to be avoided by all honourable 
means. And the four successive administrations of the United 

* A very en-oneous idea has been promulg-ated, and found a too easy Ijelief, 
that tlie war was carried by a small and contemptible majority. How utterly 
unfounded it is, appears by the above statement. Measures of g^reat importance 
are rarely carried by lar^e majorities. 



CHAP. 43.] PEACE PARTY. '229 

States government, from the commencement of the French re- 
volution, till i812, deserve great credit for the laudiible efforts 
they made to avoid wai% amidst such a variety of provocations. 
But there are situations which present greater evils than war as 
an alternative. This nation was precisely in such a situation. 
We had borne almost every species of outrage, insult, and de- 
predation. All our efforts to procure redress or justice had 
been in vain. And the uniform voice of history proves that the 
base submission of nations to such atrocities as were perpetrated 
upon us, inevitably produces a loss of national character, as well 
as of the respect and esteem of other nations — and mvites to 
further outrages and depredation, till the alternati\e finally be- 
comes, a loss of independence, or resistance with means and con- 
fidence impaired. The questions respecting the late war with 
Great Britain are, whether it was warranted by the conduct of 
that nation — and whether, after having been duly declared by 
the constituted authorities, it was not the incumbent duty of the 
whole nation to have united in support of it. The first of these 
questions is of so much importance that I shall devote to it the 
44th, 45th and 46th chapters entire. I have already sufficiently 
discussed the second in the beginning of the present chapter. 

From the hour of the declaration of war, a steady, systemati- 
cal, and energetical opposition was regularly organized against 
it. The measure itself, and its authors and abettors, were de- 
nounced with the utmost virulence and intemperance. The war 
was, however, at first opposed almost altogether on the ground 
of inexpediency, and the want of preparation. Afterwards its 
opposers rose in their denunciations. They asserted it was un- 
holy — wicked — base — perfidious — unjust — cruel — and corrupt. 
Every m^ who in any degree co-operated in it, or gave aid to 
carry it on — was loaded with execration. It was pronounced in 
one of our daily papers to be " the most wicked and vmjust war 
that ever was waged." The utter disregard of truth and of the 
moral sense of the reader, which such a declaration betrays, is 
calculated to excite the utmost astonishment. Can this war for 
an instant be compared to the atrocious and perfidious war 
waged by Bonaparte against Spain — to the treacherous war of 
England against Denmark, begun by a most lawless and unpre- 
cedented attack upon the shipping and capital of an unoffending 
neutral ? I pass over thousands of other instances. And the 
assertion just quoted is so far from being true, that it is the very 
reverse of truth ; for probably no nation ever boi'e injustice and 
depredation so long without resistance. 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

Peace party. Composed of warlike materials. Repeated clamour 

for xvar. 
Immediately after the declaration of war, there was a party- 
formed, called the "Peace Party," which combined nearly th© 
O. B. 31 



230 



POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. 



[chap. 43. 



whole of the federalists throughout the union. Their object 
was, to expose the war— the administration— the congress who 
declared it— and all who supported it, to reprobation— and to 
force the government to make peace. 

This party embraced various descriptions of persons, all en- 
listed under the banners of federalism, whom it may not be im- 
proper to enumerate. 

First, those who were clamorous for war with England in 
1793, for her depredations on our commerce. 

Secondly, those who declared and supported the war against 
France in ir98. ^ 

Thirdly, those who were vociferous for war against Spain in 
1803, when she interdicted us from the right of deposit at New- 
Orleans. 

_ Fourthly, those who in 180J-6, urged the government to r^ 
sist the aggressions of England, and to make the alternative-^ 
redress ofxvroyigs^ or WAR. 

Fifthly, those who, after the attack upon the Chesapeake in 
180r, were clamorous for war, as the only mode in which satis- 
iaction could be had for such an outrageous insult. 

To enable the reader to make a fair comparison of the several 
degrees of complaint at these several periods of time, I annex a 
synoptical view of them. 



1793 



Clamour 

for war 

with 

England. 

Cause. 

Depre- 
dations 
on com- 
merce. 



1798 



War 

with 

France. 



Cause. 

Depre- 
dations 
on com- 
merce. 
Ambas- 
sadors 
insulted. 
Vile at- 
tempt 
to extort 
money. 



1803 



1806 



Clamour [ciam 
for war 

with 
Spain. 

Cause. 

Prohibi- 

tion of 
the right 
of depo- 
sit atNew 
Orleans, 



our 
for war 
with G. 
Britain. 

Cause. 

Enforce- 
ment of 
the ride 
of 1756. 
Impress- 
ment, 



1807 



1812 



Clamour 
for war 
with G. 
Britain. 

Causef 

Attack ' 
on the 
Chesa- 
peake. 
Impress- 
ment. 



MV&v witli Great Britain. 



Causes. 

Impressment. 

American vessels, owweo 
by american citizens, laden' 
with amebicabt phoductions, 
and navigated by american 
seamen, liable to seizure 

AND CONnEMNATION,(/'6o?i7J<//b?- 

Fra?ice, Holland, or the north of 
Italy. In othei- icords, the trade 
of the United States -with fifty 
millions of the people of Eur ops 
{interdicted. 



I hope the reader will pay particular attention to this table. 
Let him for a moment, whether federalist or democrat, divest 
himself of all prejudice on this subject. Let him suppose him- 
self called to decide upon events of a former age or a distant 
country. Let him compare the different grievances together, 
and I trust he must acknowledge that those of 1812, very far 
outweighed all the others combined. 



CHAP. 43.] CLAMOUR FOR WAR. 231 

Let us first consider the case of the suspension of the right 
of deposit at New Orleans. On that occasion the federal party 
in congress and out of doors were loud in their clamour for war, 
ivithout even allowing time for making an attempt to procure 
redress by negociation, A motion was made in congress for rais- 
ing 50,000 men to sail dftwn the Mississippi, in order to chastise 
the insolence of the Spaniards. The government was upbraided 
for its pusillanimity in not vindicating the national honour. The 
cry then was — " millions for defence^ not a cent for tribute.^"* 

Extract of a letter from the seat of government to a friend in Massachusetts. 

" Mississippi river is the common highway to the people of the western 
countiy, on which they must pass with their produce to market. They never 
■utill suffer this highivay to be obstructed or shut up. The free navigation of this 
river must be preserved to that portion of the American people, or THE AMERI- 
CAN EMPIRE MUST BE DISMEMBERED. If -we had a Washington at the 
head of our government, I should expect firm, decisive measures would up07i this 
pccasion be pursued; that a miUtary force sufficient to take JVew Orleans, would 
immediately and without delay be assembled at the JVatches, in the Mississippi 
territory ; that upon the refusal of the Spanish government, upon demand, to 
fulfil the' treaty, that army, thus assembled, should immediately proceed down 
the river, and take possession of J\'exu Orleans. But I apprehend 7io such vigor- 
ous measures ivill be adopted by our present executive. From the reduction of 
the army last year, what regular troops have we remaimng to be employed in 
that service ?" Boston Centinel, January 19, 1803. 

♦' Notwithstanding the H»/A7a«r/water measures the administration has thought 
proper to adopt respecting the " Occlusion" of the port of A'ew Orleans ,- the 
Language of the people on the occlusion is directly the reverse." Boston Cen- 
tinel, February 16, 1803. 

Extract of a letter from Washingt07i. 

" We disapprove the timid and time-serving measures which our government 
has adopted relative to the violation of our treaty with Spain. The states 
which border on the OMo and Mississippi are most immediately interested in 
what the president calls the " occlusion" of the port of New Orleans. On the 
fourteenth, Mr. Ross, of Pennsylvaitia, made a most able and animated speech 
in the senate, in which he described in striking colours, the situation of the 
western country, and urged tlie necessity of taking effectual measures for their re- 
lief, and in support of national honour. After having spoken more than an hour, 
Mr. Ross informed the senate, that he had prepared several resolutions on the 
subject, which he asked leave to submit. The democrats immediately moved 
that the galleries should be cleared. Mr. Ross then declared, that if the dis- 
cussion -was to be secret, he shoidd not offer the resolutions, or make any further 
cbservations on the subject. The galleries were, however, cleared, b) the ma, 
I'ority, and the senate soon adjourned. It is understood that a grand caucus 
was held that evening : and the majority dreading the effect such proceedings 
might have on the public mind, the next morning it was determined in senate, 
that the discussion should be pubhc." Boston Centinel, March 2, 1803, 

" Nothing is more contagious than example. The meek ami loxdy spirit 
wliich influences the conduct of the executive towards Spain, has infected even 
the armed force on the frontier ; and the pioneers of their country, WHOSE 
SWORDS OUGHT TO LEAP FROM THEIR SCABBARDS TO RESENT 
ITS INJURIES, are now seen to catch at every appearance, however evanes- 
cent, to promote the reign of humility. Even general Wilkinson, who, one 
would suppose, would be trembUngly alive to his country's honour, and proud 
of an opportunity to stimulate it to spirited measures; assumes the dulcet note, 
and with aviditv dispatches an express to inform governor Claiborne, not that 
the Spanish government had restored the United States to their right by treaty: 
but truly " that the govenimcnt has given permission for the depot of all 



232 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 43. 

kinds of provisions in New Orleans, on paying six per cent duty ! .'" And tlii.s 
information, sius the able and ind(.fatigal)le editor of the Evening Post, is intro- 
duced by tiie words, THE PORT OF NKW ORLEANS OPEN, in larg'e capitals, 
by way of exultation at tliis joyotis event."' Boston Centincl, April 13, 1803. 

" The president of the United Slates, in liis late letters to the executives of 
the individual states, on the subject of the organization of the mihtia ; speaking 
of the Spanisli conduct at New Orleans, says^ " Jtigkts the most essential to our 
welfare have been violated, and an infraction of treaty committed ~<vithout colour or 
pretext." Tliis being the acknowledged state of things, let the world judge, 
•whether the national honour -will he more Justly vindicated, and violated rights re- 
dressed, hy the muiukiuli appeal which has been made to Spanish faith and justice, 
and French generosity and management ; by the degrading solicitation for 
purchased justice, or the disgracefid proffer of a bribe : or whether these ends 
tvould not more readily be obUiined by the execution of the manly and spirited mea- 
sures recommended by the eloquence of .Morris, and the patriotism and sound under- 
standing of Ross and the other federalists in congress ; posterity will judge." 
Boston Centinel, April 13, 1S03. 

" While li-e deplore the rveakness and pusillanimity of our governmait, -ve sin- 
cerely congratida-te our western brethren on the favourable change in their situa- 
tion ; and fervently pray for its long continuance. How far we may attribute 
this change to the spirited conduct of the federal members in congress, cannot at 
present be fully ascertained. Wc have no hesitation, however, in believing 
that it has at least persuaded, if not entirely originated these measures." Cen- 
tinel, Ai;ril 27, 1803. 

" Since the adopt-on of the federal constitution, no subject has more forcibly 
affected the feelings of the citizens of the Unitetl States, than the "occlusion" 
of tlie port of .V«ti Or/cfi/js by the Spanish [or French] government. It is a 
subject to which the attention of the reader cannot too frequently be called. 
The president of the L^nited States lias not hesitated officially to declare, that 
by this measure "rights the most essential to the welfare of the American jyeople 
have been violated, and an infraction of the treaty committed iixithout- colour or pre- 
text" Tlie spii'it of the people has been alive to the injury; and was ready to 
make any saci-itice to redress the wrong: but because the federalists in congress 
felt the full glow of this spirit, and took the lead in proposing the necessary measures 
to give it rjlicacy ; rather than they should derive any honour from their success, 
the administi'ation having the power, substituted A PUSILLANIMOUS NE- 
GOCIATIONj and degrading entreaty, for that spirit of action which manly ■ 
resentment for violated rights and broken faith, so loudly and so justly called 
for." Boston Centinel, June 15, 1803. 

Lojdsiana purchased- 

" The question will ever be, was the mode of getting the territory the best, 
the cheapest, the most honnurahle for our nation ? Is the way of negociating cash 
in hand, as cheap or honourable as that J\ir. Hoss recommended ? We could have 
hcul it for nothing." Centinel, July 2, 1803. 

" All that we wanted on the river JTississippi was a place of deposit ; that our 
treaty with Spain gives. It was basely withdrawn : our high-spirited rulci's 
are asked to assert our rights. O, no ; eighty thousand mihtia are to be held 
ready to defend our turnips, and feed the pigs and cattle. BUT TO TAKE 
OUR RIGHT, TO SEIZE WHAT TREATIES GIVE, AND FRAUD WITH- 
HOLDS ; THIS IS NO'l' TIIEIli FORTE. 

" A great man lias been heard to say, that war in any case was wrong : and on 
the question being put whether he would think it wrong to go to war if our 
country was invaded by a foreign army, that even then some other way might be 
found out. This is our honour's keeper, whomwc have elected in the strange 
hope that he will guard it better than his own. 

" Certainly the .lacobins do not need a conqueror to make them s/ot'es. They 
are slaves in soul, whom even our liberty cannot raise ; slaves more fascinated 
with a master's livery than their own rights : yet they expect this base language 
will inake them ])0])ular." Centinel, July 9, 1803. 

" AM ADMINISTRATION SO FEEBLE AND DESPICABLE, by what it 
can and what it cannot do, would have sunl^ under tlie competition witli France : 



CUAP.43.] CLAMOUR FOU WAK. 233 

and a hostile neighbour on the Mississippi would have in two jeais been our 
master. Conscious of their povei-tij of spirit andof means, such an administra- 
tion \\ ould have resorted to tlie ordinary expedient of tlie bmf, to yield part of 
their wealth to save the remainder." Centinel, July 27, 1803. 

" Like true Spaniels, we are the most servile to those ivko inost insjiH ia: We 
receive back our right as a gi-eat favour, and pay tribute for that which tlic des- 
poiler could no longer vvithliold. The free navigation of tiic Mississippi, and 
a place of deposit on its shores, was our right: the privation of wliich a wi-ong: 
and A FREE AXD ENTIRE RESTORATION, OR A FORCIBLE RECOVE- 
RY OF IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE REilEUV. True patriotism, thank 
God, still glows, still blazes, like a seraph in England. Here it smells of alien. 
But Great Britain must save the unwilling world, to save herself." Centinel, 
Aug. 13, 1803. 

" There is no condition of disgrace granted below ours. In the lowest deep 
there is a lower deep. Our nation had better not exist at all, tJiuJi exist bij suffer- 
ance and under tribute.'" Centinel, Aug. 23, 1803. 

Who could possibly suppose that the prececUng extracts are 
from the Boston Centinel, owned and edited by major Benjamin 
Russell, who was lately so ardent, so zealous, so benignant a 
'•''friend oy j&eac^," and who was among the prime leaders of 
those '■'■friends ofpeace,^* whose pacific proceedings nearly over- 
turned the government, spread bankruptcy in every direction, 
ruined thousands and tens of thousands of the best citizens in 
the country, and almost laid us prostrate at the feet of a vindic- 
tive and powerful enemy ? The expense of w^ar was of late with 
major Russell one of its chief objections. But in 1803, he was 
so heroically disposed that he urged war as '•' the cheapest and 
most honourable," mode of recovering our rights. 

Extract from j\Tr. Rosses speech, delivered in the Senate, on his otvn motion to take 
forcible possession of JVew Orleans. Febrnary 16, 1803. 
"Why not put a force at his (the president's) disposal, with which he can 
■ strike ? "With which he can have a pledge for your future well-being' ' Whea 
the Atlantic coast is willing, shall their security be lost by your votes ? Are you 
sure that you will ever again find the same disposition ? Can you i-ecall the de- 
cisive moment that may. happen in a month after your adjournment ? Hereto- 
fore you have distrusted the Atlantic stales ; now, when they offer to pledge 
themselves, meet them, and close with the proposal. If the resolutions are too 
strong, new model them ; if the measures are not adequate, propose otlier and 
more effectual measures. But as you value the best interests of the Western 
country, and the union with the Atlantic, seize the present occasion of securing 
it forever. For the present is only a question of !\ow much power tlie execu- 
tive shall have for the attainment of this great end : and no man desirous of the 
end ought to reiuse the necessary means for attaining:jit.. Your votes decide 
the direction this senate will take. And I devoutly wish it may be one we shall 
Vever repent." 

Extract from the speech of Goin^erneur .Morris in the Senate the same daif. 
" Yes, sir, we wish for peace ; but how is that blessing to be preserved ? I 
shall repeat here a sentiment I have often had occasion to express : In nvj opinion, 
there is nothing worth fighting for but nc.lional honour ,- fur in. the national honour 
is involved the national independence. I know that a state may find itself in sucli 
unpropitious circumstances, that ];)rudence may force a wise government to^ 
conceal the sense of indignity ; but the insidt should be engraved on tables ot 
brass, with a pencil of steel : and when that time and chance which happen to 
all, shall bring forward the favourable moment, then let the avcng'ing arm 
stiike home. It is by avowing and niaintaining this stern pi-inciple of honour, 
that peace caji be preserved. He will feel with me, that our national honour ii 



234 ' POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 43. 

the best security for our peace ajid prosperity ,- that it involves at once our wealth 
and ovir power; and in this view of the subject I must contradict a sentiment 
which fell from my honourable colleague (Mr. Clinton). He tells us, that the 
principle of this country is peace and commerce. Sir, the avowal of such a 
pi-inciple will leave us neither commerce nor peace. It invites others to prey 
on that commerce which we will not protect, and share the wealth we dare not 
defend. But let it be known, that you stand ready to sacrifice the last man 
and the last shilling in defence of national honour, and those who ivould have as- 
saulted it, will beware of you." 

The cause of complaint in 180G, was much greater than in 
1803. But it bears no comparison with the grievances in 1812. 
In 1806, besides the lawless depredations on our vessels at sea, 
without notice, we were interdicted merely from trading with 
the colonies of the French and Spaniards, on other terms than 
they permitted in time of peace. How far this was inferior to 
the grievances that led to war, wiU appear in the next chapter. 

Let us see how consistent major Russel was on the point of 
peace and war in 1806. 

" The disputes between this country and England, so long attended with ri- 
gour on her part, and injury on ours, will not admit of much longer vain com- 
plamts and harsh recriminations. They must terminate shortly in the silence ofv>ar, 
or peace. 

" At the renewal of the present war, we had proceeded for some time with 
all the ardour and zeal of good fortujie. We have been stopped again in our ca- 
reer by the renewal of harsh and vexatious i-estrictions on the part of England. 
She has again appealed to principles wliich we cannot admit, and claimed as 
rights, what we cannot grant her even as an indulgence. In the exercise of 
these assumed rights, we find a serious source of complaint; for it has cost us 
much. It is, however, nothing novel. It is but a renewal of tlie injuries we 
complained of in 1793." Boston Centinel, February 15, 1806. 

" They [the democrats in congress] dare not resist all aggressions alike, and^ 
assume the part of spirited impartiality as a magnanimous policy requires. If 
war is called for by the insulted honour of our country ; if the cup of concilia- 
tion is drained to the dregs, as they declare it to be, LET WAR BE DECLAR- 
ED ; LET AN EMBARGO BE LAID ; adequate funds provided ; the strong 
arm of defence nerved and extended; and a powerful navy ordered. In these 
measures the whole country, from Georgia to Maine, convinced of the necessi- 
t)', will be united." Boston Centinel, February 12, 1806. 

" I do not believe we sliall have war with any nation- Hiit our peace idll he 
at the expense of our spirit." Boston Centinel, March 8, 1806. 

" Our ministers in Europe ; may they never hesitate to PREFER WAR to 
dishonour and tribute." Toast drank at the artillery election. From the Bos- 
ton Centinel, June 4, 1806. 

" From Washington, January 23, 1806. 

" Fear, prejudice, or some other dastardly principle, is continually crossing 
the path of our rulers : and the loud call of our country, its commerce, and 
spoiled merchants, for energetic measiu-es, is unheard, or disregarded. My 
fears are, that the president's Ttiessage -mU only be supported by ruindy debates, or 
pen and ink reports. 

" Mr. Randolph, I am told, has very much injured his health by the exertions 
he is said here to have made during the time the house was in conclave. He has 
not attended the house for several days, and is sick. From one quarter or an- 
other, the proceedings of the house, when in secret session, are leaking out. 
My inquiries lead me to believe, that, in the spirited measures which Randolph 
proposed for supporting the presidents confidential message, he was joined by 



CHAP. 43.] CLAMOUR FOR WAR. 235 

every federalist in the house ; by a majority of the Virginia representation, and 
some others ; but that he was in the minority ,- and further, that he was opposed 
by all the New England democrats to a man ! !" Boston Centinel, Feb. 5, 1806. 
•' Our seamen are impressed ; they are captured ; they are imprisoned ; they 
are treated with almost every kind of indignity, while pursuing their lawful 
business in a regular manner. How long must this be borne ? Has our govern- 
ment yet to learn, that 7io nation ever was or everioill be respected abroad, but in 
proportion as it exacts respect by punisMng -wanton insults upon its dignity, and 
-wanton depredation vpon the property of its citizens; that its doing justice to 
other nations cannot secure it respect, unless it has both abihty and disposi- 
tion to enforce measures of justice from them ; and that constant firmness of 
national attitude and conduct prevents insuUs, while pusillanimity invites them.." 
New Hampshire Gazette, July 31, 1805. 

« TO WHOM IT SUITS. 

"Look at the situation of our sea-coast, defenceless, a prey to picaroons, pri- 
vateers, and armed vessels of all nations. Our ports blockaded, our coasters 
and shipping robbed, our forts insulted, our harbours converted into private 
depots, where the very vessels which rob and disgrace us, are supplied with 
provisions, stores, and God knows what ; and where, it is more than probable, 
they have their agents, confederates, or co-partners. See the powers of Europe 
acting towards America, as if it were meant to insult her, or rather, indeed, 
sporting with her tameness in the eyes of the looking-on world. Disagreeing, 
fighting, and at enmity with each ether, in every thing else, in this one thing 
they perfectly agree, in treating America with indignity, insult, and deluding 
co?itempt. 

"Are you yet aware, sir, when it will end ? Are you sure that, if neglected, 
it will not amount to a height too great to be reached without strainings that 
may produce fatal convulsions in the state ? For God's sake, for the honour of 
your country-, for your own credit, rouse ,• let loose the spirit of the country ,- let 
loose its money bags ,• and save its honour ,- the nation luill one andallsiipport you.^^ 
New Hampsliire Gazette, January 31, 1805. 

In 1 807, the cause of complaint was still less substantial than 
in either of the other instances. 

Not to tire the reader with proofs of the public clamours for 
war at this period, I deem it abundantly sufficient to refer him 
to the twentieth chapter of this work, wherein he will find evi- 
dence to satisfy the most incredulous. 

Any man who was a partisan of war in the above cases, and 
reprobates the late war as unjust and unnecessary, betrays a most 
awful degree of inconsistency. And yet it is an indisputable 
fact, that the most violent, the most clamorous, the most Jaco- 
binical, and the most seditious, among the late " Friends of 
Peace^'' were among the most strenuous advocates for, and 
" Friends of War^'' on the former occasions. 

The Boston Centinel, after the declaration of hostilities, re- 
garded war as the most frightful of all possible evils. But this 
was not always its view of the subject. Within a fortnight after 
laying the embargo, that measure was pronounced more formi- 
dable than war itselif. 

" The embargo, which the government has just laid, is of a new and alarming, 
nature. War, great as the evil is, has less terror, and -will produce less irdsery than 
an embargo on such t)rincit>\es" Boston Centinel, January 2, 1808. 



^5S POLITICAL OUYE BRANCH. [chap. 44. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

hiquiry into the justice of the War. 

Those who were unacquainted with the causes that led to the 
late war, might, from the publications that have appeared against 
it, believe that the United States were wholly the aggressors — 
that England had been a tame and submissive sufferer of degra- 
dation, outrage, and insult — and that our rulers had been wan- 
tonly led, by inordinate and accursed ambition, to engage in a 
ruinous and destructive war, in order to enrich themselves — ■ 
squander away the public treasure — and impo\'erish the nation. 
They were, it' would appear, actuated by as unholy motives as 
ever impelled Attila, Genghis Khan, or Bonaparte, to perpetrate 
outrage and cruelty to the utmost extent of their power. 

These allegations were made in the strongest language in the 
public papers in London. The prince regent appealed to the 
world, that Great Britain had not been the aggressor in the war. 
And, as we have seen, the lords of the admiralty asserted that 
■war was declared " after all the grievances of this country had 
been removed.'''' 

The federal papers re-echoed and magnified the accusations 
of the British writers ; and succeeded so far as to inflame a 
large portion of the public with the most frantic exaspertition 
against the rulers of their choice, whom they suspected of hav- 
ing abused their confidence. 

Governors of states in their addresses, as well as senates and 
houses of representatives in their replies, took the same ground ; 
and assumed it as incontrovertible that guilt, and profligacy, and 
corruption, were the parents of the declaration of war. 

The house of representatives of Massachusetts, regardless o£ 
the holy rule, '■'■Judge not^ lest ye be judged^'' in the most un- 
qualified manner, with an utter destitution of the least semblance 
of charity, asserted, that 

" The real cause of war must be traced to the first systematical abandonment 
of the policy of Washington, and llie friends and framers of tlic constitution ; 
to implacable animosity against those men, and their universal exclusion from 
all concern in the government of the country; to the. influence of worthless 
foreigners over the press, and the deliberations of the government in all its 
branches : to jealousy of the commercial states,*- fear of their pou<er, contempt of their 
pwsuits, and ignorance of tlieir true cliaractrv and importance ,- to the cupidity of 
certain states for the wilderness reserved for the miserable aborigines ; to a vi- 
olent passion for conquest," &c. 

With ecfual candour^ the senate of the state, not to be outdone 
by the other legislative branch, declared that 

" 7/ie tvnr was founded in falsehood, declared -luithont necessitii, audits real ob- 
ject was extent of territory by unjust conquests, and to aid the late t^'ant of JBw* 
rope in his views of agg:-andiaement." 

* The absurdity and total want of fouiidalion of these allegations I shall fully 
estabhsh in a subsequent chapter. 



fttAP. 44.3 DEFENCE OF THE WAR. 23^ 

In these awful accusations, there is no allowance for human 
imperfection — or error in judgment — or difference in opinion. 
They are preferred in the strongest form which our language 
admits, and involve the highest possible degree of turpitude. 

If these allegations be true, the president who recommended 
war, and the legislature of the United States which declared it, 
betrayed their trust, and are base, abandoned, and wicked. If 
they be false, the legislature of Massachusetts are base, abandon- 
ed and wicked. There is no alternative. One or other description 
of persons must sink in the estimation of contemporaries and 
posterity. 

Let us examine the case. Let us investigate the truth. If 
our rulers be thus base — thus abandoned— thus wicked — thus 
corrupt — let them be devoted to the detestation they have so 
richly earned. But if the allegations be false — if the war were 
just — if the nation drank the chalice of outrage, insult, injur)', 
and depredation, to the last dregs, before she had recourse to 
arms, let us, at every hazard, cling to our rulers — to our form of 
government — to the national honour — to the national interest. 

The conduct of Great Britain to this country for a series of 
years, had been a constant succession of insult, aggression, and 
depredation. Our harbovirs had been insulted and outraged — • 
our commerce had been most wantonly spoliated — our citizens 
had been enslaved, scourged, and slaughtered, fighting the bat- 
tles of those who held them in cruel bondage. We had, in a 
word, experienced numberless and most wanton injuries and out- 
rages of various kinds. But the two most prominent causes of 
war, assigned by the president in that message which recom- 
mended, and by the committee in the report which contained, a 
declaration of hostilities, were impressment and the orders in 
council. If those causes really existed, the war could not have 
been '•'•founded in falsehood.'''' I shall proceed to the examination 
of both topics. But I previously quote the words of the mes- 
sage and of the report. On the subject of impressment, the pre- 
sident declares, 

" The practice is so far from affectin,^ British subjects alone, that, under the 
pretext of searching- for those, THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS, 
under the safeguard of pubhc hiw, and their national flag-, have been torn from 
their country, and every thing- dear to them ; have been dragged on board 
ships of war of a foreign nation ; and exposed, under the severities of their dis- 
cipline, to be exiled to the most distant and deadly climes ; to risk their lives 
in the battles of their oppressors ; and to be the melancholy instruments of ta- 
king away those of their own brethren." 

And the committee, on the same topic, state, 

" We will now proceed to other wrongs which have been more severely felt. 

Amongtheseis THE IMPRESSMENT OF OUR SEAMEN, a practice which 

has been unceasingly maintained by Great Britain in the wars to wliich she has 

been a party since our revolution, i'oitr committee cannot convey in adequate 

O. B. 32 



238 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 4*. 

terms the deep serise which they entertain of the injustice and oppression of this pro- 
ceeding-. Under the pretext of impressing- British seamen, our fellow-citizens 
are seized 171 British ports, on the high seas, and in every other quarter to which 
the British power extends ; are taken on board British men of war, and com- 
pelled to serve there as Britisli subjects. In this mode our citizens are wan- 
tonly snatched from their country and their families ; deprived of their hberty ; 
doomed to an ignominious and slavish bondage ; compelled to fight the battles 
of a foreign country, and often perish in them. Our flag has given them no pro- 
tection : it has been unceasingly violated, and our vessels exposed to danger by 
tlie loss of the men taken from them. Your committee need not remark, that 
while the practice is continued, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE UNITED 
STATES TO CONSIDER THEMSELVES AN INDEPENDENT NATION. 
Every new case is a proof of their degradation. Its continuance is the more un- 
justifiatjle, because i/u; United States have repeatedly proposed to the British gov- 
ernment an arreingernent -U'hich luonld secure to it the controul of its own people. An 
exemption of the citizens of the United States from tliis degrading oppression, 
and their flag from violation, is all that they have sought." 

On the orders in council, the president observes, 

" Under pretended blockades, without the presence of an adequate force, and 
sometimes without the practicability of applying one, OUR COMMERCE HAS 
BEEN PLUNDERED IN EVERY SEA. The great staples of our country have 
been cut oft" from their legitimate markets : and a destructive blow aimed at our 
agricultural and maritime interests. In aggi-avation of these predatory measures, 
they have been considered as in force from the date of their notifcatioji ,- a retro- 
spective eflTect being thus added, as has been done in other important cases, to 
the unlawfulness of the course pursued. And to i-ender the outrage the more 
signal, tliese mock blockades have been reiterated and enforced in the face of 
official communications from the British government, declaring, as the true 
definition of a legal blockade, " that particular ports must be actually invested, 
and previous warning given to vessels bound to them, not to enter." 

" Not content with these occasional expedients for laying waste our neutral 
trade, the cabinet of Great Britain resorted, at length, to the sweeping system 
of blockades, under the name of orders in council, which has been moulded 
and managed, as might best suit its political views, its commercial jealousies, 
or the avidity of British cruisers." 

And the committee states, 

By the last orders in council of the 11th of November, 1807, 
" The British government declared direct and positive war against the United 
States. TIte dominion of the ocean was completely usurped by it ; all commeixe for- 
bidden ; and every flag driven from it, or subjected to capture and condemna- 
tion, which did not subserve the policy of the British government, by paying it 
a tribute and sailing under its sanction. From this period the United States have 
incurred the heaviest and most mortifying humiliations. Tiiey have borne the calami- 
ties of war without retorting them on its authors." 

I shall discuss each item separately. 

1. Orders hi Council. 

To repel the charge that the " rvar xv as founded hi falsehood^'' 
so far as respects this item, it would be sufficient to establish 
their existence on the day war was declared. This is obvious. 
For if they existed, then the war could not be '■'■founded hi false- 
hood.''^ But I shall not rest satisfied with this alone. 

War was declared at Washington on the 18th of June, 1812. 
The repeal, as it is called, of the orders in council, took place 
on the 22d of that month in London. It is clear, therefore, that 
the charge of "■falsehood'''' here is utterly unfounded. 



.«BAP. 44.] Defence of the war. 239 

By an official statement presented to congress by the secretary 
of state, on the 6th of July, 1812, it appears that the British 
captures, prior to the orders in council, were 528, and subse- 
quent thereto, 389. 

It is difficult to form an estimate of these vessels. I am no 
merchant, and have no adequate data to guide me. I have en- 
quired of mercantile characters, and have been told, that from 
the great value of the cottons, tobaccoes, &c. of the outward car- 
goes to France, and the silks, brandies, &c. of the homeward 
cargoes, 30 or 40,000 dollars would be a fair average. But I will 
suppose 25,000 dollars for vessel and cargo, which, I presume, is 
moderate. This extends to the enormous amount of 

13,200,000 dollars, 
depredated previous to the orders in council ; and 

9,7-25,000 dollars, 
during the existence of those orders ; for the latter of w^hich 
there is not the least chance of redress. 

But the sum, of which our citizens were despoiled, by no 
means constitutes the w^hole of the grievance. The enormous 
limitation and restriction of the trade of a sovereign and inde- 
pendent nation, was at least of equal magnitude, in point of out- 
rage, with the pecuniary loss ; for it is a sacred and indisputable 
truth, that from November 11, 1807, till the day war was de- 
clared, American ships^ owned hi] American merchants^ navigat- 
ed by American stamen^ and laden xvith A^nericoji productions^ 
"Were liable to seizure and condenination, if bound to France, Hol- 
land, or the northern part of Italy : and for about trveiity months 
of that period, they were subject to capture and condemnation if 
bound to any part xvhatever of Europe except the British domi- 
nions. 

I implore the reader by all that is candid, to consider this sin- 
gle sentence. Let him read it once more carefully. It is a fair 
statement of the relative situation of the two countries. The 
commerce of the United States xvith nearly one-third of the popU' 
lation of Europe xuas subject to condeinnatioii ! Let him lay his 
hand on his heart, and answer the question, was not this ade- 
quate cause for war ? Was not this a greater grievance than the 
sixpenny tax on tea, which led to the American Revolution ? 
Have not more than nine-tenths of all the wars that have ever 
existed been declared for less causes? We xvere forbidden by 
Great Britaiji, under penalty of confiscation, to carry on trade 
•with about fifty millions of the inhabitants of Europe. And yet, 
we are gravely told, that " the war was founded in falsehood ! ! !" 
Wonderful, wonderful delusion ! ! 

At that period England herself carried onxvith France and her 
dependencies, under licenses, the very trade which she rendered 
illegal xvhen carried on by the United States 1 1 ! And several Ame-; 



240 POLITICAL OLIYE BRANCH. [chap. 44- 

rican vessels, bound for France, and taken bij British cruizers, 
were actually, without breaking Indk, taken into French ports by 
the captors, or those zvho purchasedfrom them ! ! ! 

Having presented the reader with a short specimen of the 
denunciations of the war, I lay before him some opinions of a 
directly contrary tendency. 

The first authority is highly exalted and respectable. It is no 
less than the emperor Alexander. This monarch, in the very 
commendable offer of his mediation, declares, that 

" His majenty takes pleasure in (foitig- justice to the ivisdom of the United States .- 
and is convinced that it has done all that it conld, to avoid this ii/pture." 

The next authority is governor Plumer, of New-Hampshire, 
who in a short speech to the legislature of that state, Nov. 18, 
1812, states that Great Britain 

" Has for a series of j'ears by her conduct evinced a deadly hostility to out 
national rights, to our commerce, peace, and prosperity. She has ivantonly im- 
pressed thousands of our nnnffending seamen ; immured them within the tvalls of 
her floating castles ,- held them in servitude for ari unlimited period, often for life ; 
and compelled them to fight, not only with nations with whom we are at peace, 
but to turn their ai-ms against their own country. She has violated the rights 
find peace of our coasts,- loanlonly shed tlie blood of our citizens in our harbours ; 
and instead of punishing, has rewarded her guilty officers. Under pretended 
blockades, unaccompanied by the presence of an adequate force, she has un- 
iustly deprived us of a market for the products of our industry ; and, by her 
orders in council, has, to a great extent, s~uept our commerce from tlte ocean .- thus 
assuming a right to regvdate our foreign trade in war, and laying a foundation 
to prescribe law for us in time of peace. She has pei^mitted her subjects publicly to 
forge and vend our ships' papers, to carry on a commerce with thatycry enemy 
from whose pons she interdicted our trade. Whilst her accredited minister, un- 
der the mask of friendship, was treating with our government, her spies were 
endeavouring to ahcnate our citizens, subvert our government, and dismember 
the union of the states." 

The senate of Massachusetts, June 26, 1812, agreed upon, 
an address to the people of that state, of which I subjoin three 
paragraphs — 

"We will not enter into a detail of the injuries inflicted on us, nor of the 
flimsy pretexts by which Great Britain has endeavoured to justify her outrages. 
It is sufficient to say, that slie no longer pi-etends to disguise her ambitious de- 
signs, under pretence of retaliation on her enemy. She asserts her right to un- 
bounded dominion, only because slie assumes unbounded power. She annexes 
conditions to the repeal of her orders in council, whicli she knows we have no 
right to require of her enemy ; which she knows are impossible ; thus adding 
insult to injury ; thus adding mockery to her long train of perpetrated inju- 
ries. With the boldness of the highwayman, she has, at last, stripped the inask from 
violence, and vindicates her aggressions on the only plea of tyrants, that of whim 
and convenience. 

" It was not sufficient that we were remote from European politics, and 
courted peace tnider every sacrifice ; acquiesced inminorinjuries; remonstrated 
against those of a deeper dye ; forbore until forbearance became piisillanimiiy ; 
and finally retired from the scene of controversy, with the delusive hope that a 
spirit of moderation might succeed that of violence and rapine. We were hunt- 
ed on the ocean. <')ur properly was seized upon by the convulsive grasp of our 
now open and acknowledged enemy, and our citizms forced into a cmel andig- 
vominioiis vassalage. And when we retired, we were pursued to the thresliok! 
of our territory ; outrages of an enormous cast, perpetrated in our baj's and har- 



CHAP. 44.] DEFENCE OF THE WAR. 241 

bours ; the tomahawk of the savage uplifted against the parent, the wife, the 
infant, on our frontiers ; and spies and incendiaries sent into the bosom of our 
country, to plot the dismemberment of our union, and involve us in all the hor- 
rors of a civil war. 

" The constituted authorities of the United States in congress assembled, 
submitting the justice of their cause to the God of battles, have at length de- 
clared war against this implacable foe ; a war for the liberty of our citizens ,■ a 
■war for our national sovereigntij andindepemlence ,- a xoar for our republican form 
of government against the machinations of despotism." 

On the 26th of December, 1811, the legislature of Ohio pub- 
lished a resolution and address on the subject of our foreign re- 
lations, in which they pledged themselves to a full support of 
the government, in the event of a declaration of war. This 
pledge they have nobly redeemed. I submit one paragraph of 
the address. 

" The conduct of Great Britain towards this country is a gross departure from 
the known and established laws of nations. Our rights, as well those derived 
through the immemorial usages of nations, as those secured by compact, have 
been outraged without acknowledgment ; even without remorse. Solemn sti- 
pulations by treaty, and imphed engagements, have given place to views of an 
oven-eaching, selfish, and depraved policy. Life, liberty, and property, have been 
the sport of measures, unjust, cruel, and ivithout a parallel. The flag of freedom 
and of impartial neutrality has been wantonly insulted. Tears of the ividoxvs 
and orphatis of murdered Jlmericans have floiued in vain. Our countrj'men have 
been torn from the embrace of liberty and plenty. The cords of conjugal, filial, 
fraternal, and paternal affection, have been broken. Almost every sea and ocean 
buoys upon its surface the victims of capture and impressment. Vain is every ef- 
fort and sacrifice for an honourable state of safety and tranquillity. Mission 
has followed mission ; remonstrance has succeeded remonstrance ; forbearance 
has stepped on the heels of forbearance, till the mind revolts at the thought of 
a prolonged endurance." 

The senate of Maryland, on the 22d of Dec. 1812, passed a 
set of resolutions, approving of the war, from which I subjoin an 
extract. 

" Whenever the pursuit of a pacific policy is rendered utterly inconsistent 
with the national interest, prosperity and happiness, by tlie tinprovoked in- 
juries and la-wless outrages of foreign power ,- whenever those rights* are assail- 
ed, without the full and perfect enjoyment of which a nation can no longer 
claim the character and attributes of sovereignty and independence ; whenever 
the right of a free people to navigate the common highway of nations, for the 
purpose of transporting to, and vending the surplus products of their soil and 
industry at, a foreign market, is attempted to be controlled and subjected to 
Such arbitrary rides and regulations as the jealousy or injustice of a foreign 
power may tliink proper to prescribe ; whenever their citizens, in the exercise 
ff t/ieir ordinary occupations, and labounng to obtain the means of subsistence for 
themselves and their families, are torn by the ruthless hand of violence from their 
country, their connections, and their home,- whenever the tender ties of pai'entand^ 
child, of husband and wife, are wholly disregarded by the inexorable owelty oj 
the u feeling Oppressor, who, usurping the liigh prerogative of beaven, and anti- 
cipating the dread office of death, convei-ts those sacred relations into a prema- 
lure orphanage and widowhood ; not that orphanage and widowhood which 
"spring from the grave," unless the footing dungeons into ivhich they are cast, 
and compelled to fight the battles of their oppressors, may be compared to the atvjul 
and gloomy mansions of the tomb ; whenever injuries and oppressions, such as 
these, are inflicted by a foreign power, upon the persons .'ir.il Tjrcpert.es of our 
citizens, and aji appeal ta^ the justice of such po-wer to obtoiu redress, proves wholltf 
useless and unavailing ; in such cases, as it is the duty of those to whom the sa- 



2*42 POLITICAL OLIVE BHANCH. [chap. 45, 

cred trust of protecting- the rig-lits ot'the citizens and the honour of the nation, 
is confided, to take such measures as the exigency of the case may require, to 
protect the one, and vindicate the other : Therelbre 

" Resolved, that the war -waged by the United Slates against Great Britain, is 
just, necessary, and politic ; and ouglit to be supported by the united strength and re- 
sources of the nation, imtil the grand object is obtained for which it was declared." 

CHAPTER XLV. 

Consideration of the orders i7i Council continued. Strong and 
unequivocal reprobation of them by James Lloyd and James 
Bayard., Esqrs. and Goverjior Griszvold. Extract of a letter 
from Harrison Gray Otis^ Esq. 

I MIGHT have dismissed this part of my subject with the last 
chapter. But as it is ot vital importance — as Great Britain and 
the United States are at issue on, it in the face of an anxious 
and enquiring world, whose judgment we await on the subject — 
I judge it advisable to enter into it more fully. 

The only defence ever attempted of these outrageous pro- 
ceedings is on the principle of " retaliation.'"* This is complete- 
ly invalidated by Mr. Baring, supra page 117. It is also unequi- 
vocally abandoned by the most prominent and influential leaders 
of the federal party. 

James Lloyd, Esq. senator of the United States for the state 
of Massachusetts, a most decided federalist, a steady, undeviat- 
ing, and zealous opposer of the administration and of all its 
measures, has pronounced sentence of condemnation in the most 
unequivocal terms, upon the pretence of retaliation, in a speech 
delivered in senate on the 28th of February, 1812. 

*' ^7irf how is it possible, that a third and neiitral party can make itself a fair ob- 
ject of retaliation, for measures which it did not counsel ; which it did not approve ; 
which militate strongly with its interests ; which it is and ever has been aiixiously 
desirous to remove ,- 7vhich it has resisted by every means in its power, that it 
thought expedient to use, and of these means the government of the neutral country 
ought to be sole judge ; which it has endeavoured to get rid of even at a great 
sacrifice ! how is it possible that a neutral country, thus conducting, can make itself 
a fair object of retaliation for measures which it did 7iot originate; which it could 
not prevent, and cannot controul .' Thus, sir, to my view the ORDERS IN COUN- 
CIL ARE WHOLLY UNJUSTIFIABLE, LET THEM BE BOTTOMED 
EITHER ON THE PRINCIPLE OF RETALIATION, OR OF SELF-PRE- 
SERVATION." 

From Mr. Lloyd's authority on this topic I presume there 
will be no appeal. There cannot be. His decision is final. 
But I am not confined to Mr. Lloyd. Mi*. Baj'ard, a gentleman 
of equal standing, a quondam senator of the United States from 
the state of Delaware, one of our late commissioners at Ghent, 
also a decided federalist, pronounced the same sentence on 
them — in a speech delivered in the senate of the United States, 
October 31,1811. 

" They were adopted as a measure of retaliation, though they never deserved 
that character. He had always considered the Berlin a^id Milan decrees used as^ 



CHAP. 45.] ORDERS IN COUNCIL. 243 

a mere pretext. Those decrees were vain and empty denunciations in relation 
to England. The plain design of the British government was to deprive France of 
the benefits of external commerce, UNLESS TilE PROFITS OF IT WERE TO 
BE DiVlDED WITH HERSELF. This is fully proved by the license trade. 
Britain carries on the very trade she denies to neutrals, and having engrossed the 
■whole to herself, she excludes neutrals from a participation. 

" I am amo'nff the last men in the senate who would justify or defend the or- 
ders in council! THEY VIOLATE THE PLAINEST RIGHTS OF THE NA- 
TION. The ground of retaliation ivas never more than a pretext, and their plain 
object is to depnve France of neutral trade. It never was contended, nor does 
Britain now contend, that she would be justified by the laws or usag-es of na- 
tions, to interdict our commerce with her enemy. She COVERS HER INJUS- 
TICE WITH THE CLOAK OF RETALIATION, and insists that she has a right 
to retort upon her enemy tlie evils of his own policy. This is a doctrine to luhich 
I am not disposed to agree. IT IS DESTRUCTIVE TO NEUTRALS. It makes 
them the prey of the belligerents. 

"IT IS A DOCTRINE WHICH WE MUST RESIST." 

In addition to the authority of Messrs. Lloyd and Bayard, I 
beg leave to adduce that of the late governor of Connecticut, 
Roger Griswold, esq. which, though not quite so unequivocal, 
is sufficiently strong to satisfy every candid reader. 

On the 10th of October, 1811, eight months previous to the 
declaration of war, governor Griswold, in an address to the le- 
gislature of the state, drew a strong portrait of the injustice of 
the belligerents towards us, and of the necessity of abandoning 
the pacific policy which our government had pursued, and 
adopting vigorous and decisive measures to enforce respect for 
our rights. 

" It has been our misfortune to pursue a policy, which has rendered us con- 
temptible in the eyes of foreign nations ; and we are treated as a people, who 
are ready to submit to every indignity, which interest or caprice imposes upon 
tis. It cannot, however, be too late to retrieve the natio7ial honour : and we 
ouglit to expect that our public councils will find, that a manly, impartial, and 
decided course of measures has now become indlspensible ; such a cour.^e as shall 
satisfy foreign nations, that whilst we desire peace, we have THE MEANS AND 
THE SPIRIT TO REPEL AGGRESSIONS. The interests of the United 
States undoubtedly require a secure and honorable peace. But the only 
guarantee which ought or can with safety be relied on for this object, is a suffi- 
cient organised force, and SPIRIT TO USE IT WITH EFFECT, when no other 
honourable means of redress can be resorted to. The extensive resources, aid- 
ed by the geographical situation of our country, have furnished every necessary 
means for defending our territoiy and our commerce : and WE ARE FALSE 
TO OURSELVES, WHEN EITHER [i, e. our ten-itory or our commerce] IS 
INVADED WITH IMPUNITY." 

No dispassionate reader can deny that governor Griswold in 
this speech makes very strong and unequivocal declarations of 
the necessity of vigorous, and decisive, that is to say, of war- 
like measures. It is impossible otherwise to interpret the im- 
pressive style in which he invokes the " spirit to use the organ- 
ized force xvith effecV — and the declaration that "• xve are false 
to ourselves tuhen we allow our commerce or our territory to be 
invaded with impunity.'''' 

On the 12th of May, 1812, only five weeks before the declara- 
tion of war, the legislature of Connecticut met again. Governor 



244 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 45. 

Griswold addressed them once more on the same subject. He 
explicitly declared, that 

" The last six moiiths do not appear to have produced any change in the hostile 
aggressions of foreign nations on the commerce of the United States." 

And after referring to, and justly reprobating the burning of 
our vessels by the French, he emphatically adds, 

" Such, however, has been the character of doth, that NO CIRCUMSTANCE 
CAN JUSTIFY A PREFERENCE TO EITHER." 

I beg the reader will give these documents a due degree of 
consideration. It appears that governor Griswold, on the 10th 
of October, 1811, unequivocally pronounced an opinion, that the 
aggressions of Great Britain and France were of such a nature 
as to warrant resistance by war. He denounced the pacific poli- 
cy we had pursued, as rendering us " contemptible in the eyes of 
foreign nations^'*'' who, in consequence, regarded us '•'■as a people 
ready to submit to every indignity -which interest or caprice 
might impose upon usj"* He called upon the government to 
change its system, and to convince foreign nations, that " rve 
have the means and the spirit to resent foreign aggressions ;" — 
and finally declared " ive are fake to ourselves., rvhen we stiver 
our commerce or our territory to be invaded with impunity.'''' 
Seven months afterwards, he reviewed these declarations, and 
stated that " no circumstance could justify a preference to 'either''^ 
France or England, both had so grossly outraged our rights. 
And yet, reader, what must be your astonishment to be told, 
that this same governor Griswold, immediately after the war 
was declared, which his speech appears to have urged, arrayed 
himself among, and was a leader of, the '•'■friends of peace ^'' who 
denounced the war as inexpedient, and wicked, and unjust, and 
unholy ! ! ! 

I might have rested the cause on the united testimony of Mr. 
Lloyd and Mr. Bayard, and governor Griswold. They are 
fully sufficient for my purpose. No candid or honest man can 
resist them. They, with concurring voice, establish the 
strong, the decisive fact, that there was ample and adequate cause 
of war. But regarding the subject as of immense and vital im- 
portance, I am determined " to make assurance doubly sure^^'' 
I therefore solemnly cite before the public another evidence, still 
more powerful, still more overwhelming, to prove that the war 
was not founded in falsehood — that it was both just and righte- 
pus. 

This evidence is the honorable Harrison Gray Otis, esq. 
a gentleman of considerable talents, great wealth, high standing, 
and most powerful influence in the state of Massachusetts, who 
has acted a very conspicuous and important part in the extraor-- 
dinary events of our era. He was formerly a senator of the 
United States — recently a member of the legislature of Massa- 



CHAP. 45.] DEFENCE OP THE WAR. 245 

chusetts — one of the principal movers of the appointment of, and 
a delegate to, the Hartford Convention ; (which legislature and 
convention denounced the war as unjust, and wicked, and profli- 
gate) — and finally, one of the " ambassadors'''' to Washington, to 
negociate with the president on the part of Massachusetts. It is 
hardly necessary to add — but I shall be pardoned, I trust, for 
adding, that there is not in the United States a more uniform, 
undeviating, and zealous opposer of thfe party in power — a more 
decided antigallican — or a citizen less disposed to censure Eng- 
land or her measures unjustly, than Mr. Otis. 

This gentleman, on the 14th of Januaiy, 1812, addressed to a 
friend in London, a letter on the relations of the two nations — 
which displays no small share of public spirit, and breathes a 
most fervent desire for the repeal of the orders in council, in 
order to remove the indignation and abhorrence they excited in 
the United States. 

This letter was published in London ; and, had not the coun- 
sellors of his Britannic majesty been most fatally and egregious- 
ly misguided, would have produced an immediate and decisive 
effect, and saved the two countries from the horrors of warfare. 

Extract of a letter from IIamfi07i Gray Otis, esq. to a friend in London, dated 

Boston, Jcmuary 14, 1812. 

" You will perceive by the papers, that our government profess the intention 
to assume a very warhke attitude ; and that the sentiment of indignation throvg/i' 
out the country at the continnation of the orders in council, IS LOUD AND UNI-' 
VERSAL FROM BOTH PARTIES ! The motives which induce your govern- 
ment to continue them, are quite incomprehensible to the BEST FRIENDS of 
Great Britcdn in this cowUry ,■ and THE EFFECT WILL BE TO MAKE 
EVERY MAN ODIOUS WHO DARES TO EXPRESS A WISH FOR YOUR 
SUCCESS AND PROSPERITY ; a sentiment still common to our best men, bnt 
■ii'hich an adherence to this system ivill impair and destroy. 

" It is too true, that the repeal of the Berlin and ISTilan decrees has been less 
formal than it shoidd have been ,- and that our administration have become wil- 
ling dupes to the insidious policy of Napoleon. 

"But luhy should your government mind that? MHiy should they not embrace 
any pretence for restoring harmony between our two countries, especially as it 
will, of consequence, be followed by hostility on the part of France ? Napoleon 
will' renew his outrages the moment we are friends ; and Ulc natural ties xohich 
cement Great Britain and America, -will be draim closer. On the contrary, the 
scrupulous adherence of your cabinet to an empty punctilio, will too probably 
wdte the ivhole country in opposition to your nation, and sever, for generations, 
perhaps for ever, interests ivldch have the most natural affinity, and men who 
ouglit to feel and love like brethren." 

Let us canvass this precious document attentively. It is 
fraught with meaning, and flashes conviction. Every sentence 
is of vital importance. Mr. Otis states, that " the sentiment of 
ind'igJiat'ion against the orders in coimdl was loud and universal 
from both parties,'''' This declaration from such a quarter is 
overwhelming— it is irresistible. It proves the strong sense 
universally prevalent, of the outrage and injustice of those or- 
ders. The concurrence of both parties, who so rarely agree in 
any point, demands particuh.r attention. And surely Mr, Otis 
O. B. 3.3 



246 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 45. 

himself, or Mr. Pickering, or Mr. King, will not deny that it is 
fair to infer that he must have regarded the orders in council as 
unjust, and wicked, and oppressive, and piratical, and utterly in- 
defensible, when he candidly confesses, that a continuance of 
them would '"'■produce the effect to render every man odious zvho 
dared to express a wish for the success and prosperity'''' of Great 
Britain. 

Mr. Otis deprecated a war with England as one of the 
mightiest evils. He appears to have regarded these orders as not 
merely cause of war — but as likely to produce war, if continued. 

What language shall I use, reader, to fix your attention to this 
most solemn part of my subject ? Mr. Otis is so thoroughly 
impressed with a conviction of the injustice of the orders in 
council, that he explicitly states to his correspondent, that the 
*' sentiment of ind'^gnatioji throughout the country^'' at their con- 
tinuance, " is loud and universal from both parties^'' and that 
*' the effect of their continuance zvill be to render odious every 
man who dares to express a wish for the success and prosperity 
of England'''' — and further, that " an adherence to an empty punc- 
tilio will sever the txvo nations perhaps for ever.'''' Let it be ob- 
served that these declarations were made January 14, 1812, 
only five months before the declaration of war — and further, that 
no alteration or mitigation of the rigour or injustice of those 
orders had taken place when war was declared. When these 
points are duly weighed, let the reader consider that this same 
Harrison Gray Otis was one of the prime ipovers of a seditious, 
I might say, a treasonable opposition to the war, on the ground 
of its having been " profligate and unjust." It is impossible 
for language to do justice to the astonishment these reflections 
are calculated to excite. Mr. Otis was a most influential mem- 
ber of the senate of Massachusetts, in February, 1814, when a 
report of both houses declared, that " the war, so fertile in ca- 
lamities, xvas waged zvith the worst possible viervs, and carried 
on in the worst possible maJiner^ form'vig an union of xveakness 
and wickedness^ winch defies for a parallel the annals of the 
xuorld! r 

Here I close this part of the discussion. It were superfluous 
to add a line. The reader will have no difiiculty to decide. 

On the 18th of December, 1S08, a vote was taken in the 
house of representatives of the United States, on the following 
resolution : 

" liesrdveil. That the United States cannot, without a sacrifice of their rights, 
lionour and independence, submit to the late edicts of Great Britain and France. 

" And decide d in the affirmative as follows; yeas, one hundred and eigh- 
teen, nays, two. 

" Yeas. Messrs. Alexander, W. Alston, L. Alston, Bacon, Bard, Baker, 
Bassctt, Blacklcdi^i . Blake, Blount, Boijil, Boyle, Brown, Bnrwell, Butler, Ca:l- 
boun, Campbell, Champion, Chittenden, Clay, Clopton, Culpepper, Cutts, Daveu' 



«HAP. 45] DEFENCE OF THE WAR. 247 

port, Dawson, Deane, Desha, Durell, Elliott, Ely, Findley, Fisk, Fraiiklin, Gard- 
ner, Garnet, Gholson, Goodvvyn, Gray, Green, Harris, Heister, Helms, Holland, 
Hoimes, Howard, Hunipiireys, Isley^ J. G. Jackson, R. S. Jackson, Jenkins, 
Johnson, Jones, Kelly, Kenan, Key, Kirkpatrick, Lambert, Lewis, Lloyd, Ma- 
con, Marion, Masters, M'Creery, Milnor, D. Montgomery, J. Montgoniery, N. 
R. Moore, T. Moore, Jer. Morrow, Jno. Morrow, Mosely, ISliimford, Nelson, 
JVdwioW, Newton, Nicholas, Pitkin, Porter, Quincy, 7?««f7o/;;A, Rea, Rhea, J. 
Richards, M. Richards. Rvissel, Sav, Seaver, Shaw, Sloan, Smelt, Smike, J. K. 
Smita, J. Smith, Southafd, Stanfo^^d, Stedman, Storer, Stnrges, Taggart, Tal- 
madge, Taylor, Thomson, Trigg', Troup, Ipham, Van Allen, Van Cortlandt^ 
Van Horn, Van Rensselaer, Verplank, Wharton, Whitehill, Wilbour, Williams, 
A. Wilson, N. Wilson, Winn.— 118. 
" Nays, Messrs. Gardenier, Hoge. — 2." 

This is a vote of immense importance in the decision of the 
question which I have been discussing. One hundred and eigh- 
teen members, out of one hundred and twenty, have recorded 
their deliberate opinion, that " to submit to the ed:cts of Great 
Britain and France'''' would be '•'■ a sacrifice of the rights^ honour y 
and independence'''' of the United States. 

Our government had used every peaceable means that could be 
devised, to induce Great Britain to revoke her orders in council, 
to which, according to those gentlemen, we could not submit, 
ys'Mhowt'-^ a sacrifice of our rights^ honour^ and independence.'''* 
But every effort had been in vain. The orders in council re- 
mained unrevoked. 

Yet nineteen of these gentlemen, thus solemnly pledged, and 
committed, voted against the war, as unjust and wicked; and 
spared no pains to excite a seditious, a treasonable opposition to 
it, on the pretext of that injustice and wickedness! 

Can the human mind conceive a stronger and more indefen- 
sible contradiction than this ? It is impossible. 

The war was in resistance of the orders in council, and, ac- 
cording to these gendemen, was, of course, a war to prevent " a 
sacrifice of the rights, honour, and independence of the United 
States." And if ever war can be just and holy, it surely is then 
just and holy, when it is waged in defence of ^' the rights, ho- 
nour, and independence of a nation." 

I cannot allow myself to believe, that I shall have a single 
reader who will doubt or deny the correctness of this inference. 
It is irresistible. These gentlemen ari fairly committed in the 
face of their country and of all Christendom. 

It may be said, and has been said ten thousand times, that 
the same pledge was given on the subject of the French decrees j 
and that war ought to have been declared against one natior as 
well as the other. To this there are two replies. One, that the 
French government did repeal its decrees, although in a very 
ungracious and uncourteous manner. But ungracious, and un- 
courteous, and indecorous, as it was, thetj xvere repealed. That 
this was the fact, I appeal to Mr. Otis. He has completely set- 
tled this point for ever. On the 14th of January, 1812, as we 



248 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 45. 

have seen, in a confidential letter to a friend, he declared, not 
that the decrees were unrepealed — but that " the repeal was k.ss 
formal than it should have been.'''' The reader who does not find 
that this is a decisive admission that they were actually repeal- 
ed, must be wilfully blind. The other reply embraces an impor- 
tant fact. When the question of war against Great Britain was 
under discussion in congress, Mr. M'Kee, of Kentucky, moved 
for a declaration of rvar against France as well as her enemij. 
This motion, on a division of the house, was negatived by a 
very large majority. Ten members only* voted in the affirma- 
tive, of whom seven were democrats, and but three federalists ! 
All the other federalists voted in the negative ! This for ever closes 
the clamour on the subject of the propriety of declaring war 
against France. 

Here I make a solemn pause. The orders in council were, as 
we have seen, one of the most prominent grounds of war. I have 
established their existence and their flagitious injustice at the 
time of that declaration. Yet the senate of Massachusetts has 
declared that " the war rv as founded in falsehood ! ! /" 

When I stated the enormous transit duty the British minis- 
ters attempted to collect for permission to trade with France^ I 
mentioned, that to such an extravagant length was their violation 
of neutral rights and of our independent sovereignty carr'ed, 
that, wonderful to tell, they affected to consider the permission 
to trade on those tenns, as a special favour I Lest the reader 
might doubt or disbelieve this astonishing, this monstrous, this 
dishonourable, this unparalleled fact, I give him the most un- 
equivocal authority ; the celebrated Francis James Jackson. 
This gentleman, in a letter to the secretary of state, dated Octo- 
ber 11, 1811, expressly states — 

" The option g-iven to nnitrah to trade with the enemies of Great Britain, through 
British ports, ON PAYMENT OF A TRANSIT DUTY, was originally devised 
and intended as a MITIGATION ofivhat is certainly more correct, biit more rigid 
inprinci/jfe: THE TOTAL AND UNQUALIFIED INTERDICTION OF ALL 
TRADE WITH THE ENEMY ! ! !" 

There is one point of view in which the pretensions of Eng- 
land ought to be considered, to show their palpable and shock- 
ing injustice, their utter disregard of the rights of this nation, 
and their total departure from the most solemn professions pre- 
viously made. 

By these professions, England had pledged herself to repeal 
the orders in council as soon as the Berlin and Milan decrees 
were repealed, so far as those decrees affected our intercourse 
with England. We had no right to demand of France to go fur- 

* See this fact stated in the speech of Mr. Oay, speaker of the house of re- 
presentatives of the United States, January 8, 1813. Weekly Reg-ister, vol. 
iii. page 37% 



CHAP. 45.] DEFENCE OP THE WAR. 249 

ther than this in her repeal. It woiild have been the most arro- 
gant presumption for our government to have prescribed to 
France any regulation of such parts of her trade as we were not 
interested in. Yet England did require a repeal of her decrees 
affecting her trade with other nations, as a sine qua non to the re- 
peal of the ordei-s affecting the trade of the United States. 

This has been repeatedly denied, and with the utmost confi- 
dence. But denial is not disproof. And tmfortunately for the 
friends of England, the fact has become a matter of historical 
record. It is to be found in a document of the most indisputable 
authenticity. On the 10th of June, 1812, only eight days before 
the declaration of war, Mr. Foster, the British minister at 
Washington, wrote a letter to our government, in which this 
idea is distinctly and unequivocally avowed, in the following 
words : 

" I have no hesitation, sir, in saying-, that Great Britain, as the case has hi- 
therto stood, never did, nor ever could e?igage, nvithovt the grossest injustice to her- 
self and her allies, as -well as to other nenlral nations, to repeal Iter orders, as af- 
fecting- America cdone, leaving them in force against other states, upon a condition 
that France xuoidd except, singly and speciallij, America from the operation of her 
decrees." 

Whatever reprobation the system, here avowed, loudly calls 
for on the ground of its gross and flagrant injustice, we must 
approve the candour of Mr. Foster, which clothes it in all its 
genuine and intrinsic deformity, and holds it up to the abhor- 
rence of the fair and upright part of mankind of all nations. 

England at this time stood pledged to this countiy, by re- 
peated declarations, promulgated with the utmost solemnity, to 
proceed pari passii^ with France. But notwithstanding these 
solemn pledges, so often reiterated, she at last fairly comes out 
with an explicit declaration, that the repeal of the decrees, as af- 
fecting America, was to produce no effect on the orders in coun- 
cil, as affecting this country. That is, as plainly as can be, that 
unless we could prevail on France to cease the operation of her 
decrees upon British trade generally, we had no reason to hope 
for a relaxation of the rigour and injustice of her orders in 
council. This is a new explanation of a pari passu., and would 
of itself, had it stood alone, have afforded a full justification of 
the declaration of hostilities. 

No man who has the least regard to his character — who is not 
deprived by faction and party violence of the moral sense— can, 
after a perusal of the preceding observations and facts, hesitate 
what sentence to pronounce on the accusation, that " the xvar 
-was founded in falsehood,'''' 



250 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [gHap. 4&. 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

Enquiry into the justice of the xvar continued. 
Impressment, 

Of the enormity of this horrible grievance, which cries to 
heaven for vengeance^ I have given such copious details, in 
chapters 31 to 38, that I need not enter deeply into it here. 

That it was ample and adequate cause of war, no man can de- 
ny, who re-ids the letter from commodore Porter, page 201 — 
and the extract from the log book of the Guerriere, page 202 — 
whereby it is indisputably established that there was no less 
than the enormous number of forty five American impressed 
seamen on board three British vessels. 

I must once more beg leave to introduce to the reader, James 
Lloyd, Esq. When I shelter myself under such authority as 
Messrs. Otis, Pickering, Lloyd, Griswold, &c, I deem myself 
impregnable. 

Extract of a letter from the honourable James Lloyd to the honourable Mr. Perkins. 
" If Great Mritain did claim and exercifte the right to impress into her service, 
the real, bona fide, native citizens of the United States, an intermi?iable ivar xvith 
her, or ivith all the nations of the earth fif it coidd not be othentdse prevented J 
might be alike jnst, necessary, and commendable. The ocean, for the use of the 
g^eat family of mankind, should own no chartered privileges. In a time of 
neutrality, while abstainini^ from injury to others, it should be as free as air, to 
aU who navigate it : and the IMPRESSMENT OF A NATIVE AMERICAN 
CITIZEN, innocent of crime, and owing elsewhere no primary or paramount alle- 
giance, and prosecuting a lawful commerce, in a vessel of his oimi coimtry, is, as it 
respects the individual, and as it regards an infringement of rights. \S GROSS A 
VIOLATION AS IF HE WERE ARRESTED, TORN AND TRANSPORTED 
INTO SLAVERY FROM HIS PATERNAL ROOF OR DOMESTIC ALTAR." 
Boston Centinel, March 6, 1813. 

The mind glows with animation on reading these noble, these 
dignified, these manly sentiments, worthy of the most illustrious 
heroes of the revolution ! What a wonderful contrast between 
them and the groveling report of the committee of the legisla- 
ture of Massachusetts ! This single extract were sufficient to 
justify the war, had there been no other ground than impress- 
ment alone. 

•From the commencement of the French revolutionary war, 
tin the declaration of hostilities took place, our vessels were ar- 
rested wherever met with by British vessels of war — the crews 
overhauled, — and the British captains seized and enslaved whom 
they pleased — as they were, in the strong language of Cobbett 
— " CAPTORS, ACCUSERS, WITNESSES, AND 
JUDGES." 

England would have made war against all the nations of Eu- 
rope in succession, had they dared to impress her seamen. And 
what right had she to claim a religious veneration for her flag, 
when she was in the daily practice of violating ours in the gros- 
sest manner ? 



CSIAP, 46.3 DEFENCE OP THE WAR. 2^ 

I request the reader's attention to this subject. Mr. Lloyd 
unites '■'- the claim'''' and " the exercise.'''' The former is unim- 
portant in itself, and docs not aftect the question. Suppose 
England were to '■''claim a righf to all our vessels — to our ter- 
ritory — to our persons — it is no cause of war. But the moment 
she attempts " to exercise the right" to seize any of them, resis- 
tance becomes a duty. 

It thus appears, that the expression " claim" is mere verbiage. 
I do by no means believe it was employed to delude the reader. 
But I do aver that such is its effect. 

" The exercise'''' then " by Great Britain^ of the right to im- 
press into her service the real bona fide native citizens of the 
U>!ited States^ xvouW'' by the explicit and unexceptionable de- 
claration of James Lloyd, '■'■ justify an interminable war' with 

her:' 

The question, reader, is thus reduced within a narrow com- 
pass. It only remains to be ascertained whether " she exerci- 
sed" the execrable '' right of impressment" of " real bona fide 
citizens" or not. If she did, the war, according to Mr. Lloyd, 
was just. To prove the fact beyond the possibility of doubt, I 
call in very high authority. I will give up for a moment my 
own calculation of TOOO — the secretary's statement of 6700— 
and even lord Castlereagh's admission of 1600.* I will rely 
upon the committee of the legislature of Massachusetts, and 
upon the reverend Mr. Taggart, member of congress from that 

state. 

The latter admits there were three hundred impressed Amer- 
ican seamen on board the British navy on the declaration of war. 
And a committee of the house of representatives of Massachu- 
setts, " as for as their inquiries xvenf admit that there were 
eleven impressed natives of the state on board that navy. 

I proceed logically. As " the exercise of the right" of im- 
pressing the "real bona fide native citizens of the United States 
into the service of Great Britain, would justify an interminable 
war rvith her or all the nations of the earth^'' — and as we have 
clearly established that there were, at all events, 300 native citi- 
zens of the United States so impressed — it follows that Mr. 
Lloyd must justify the late war — and will not dare to assert that 
it was *'■ founded in falsehood.'''' Q. E. D. 

Before I close the subject, I beg leave to introduce higher 
personages on the stage. 

The prince regent has publickly declared, that " it is known 
to the world that this country, [Great Britain] was not the ag- 
gressor in this war :" 

* Loi-d Castlcreagh, In the British parliament, I am assured and confidently 
believe admitted this number. 



252 pm.lfTriAT, Dr.TVP- T^TJAKOH. [caAp.46. 

And the lords of the admiralty, in their proclamation, dated 
April, 1814, (see page 65,) express their regi'et on the subject of 
*' the unprovoked aggression of the American government in de- 
claring -war after all the causes of its original complaint had been 
removed.'''' 

To enter the lists against such formidable antagonists, is 
really bold and daring. But I hope I have proved, that the war 
was not " foimded in falsehood ;" — that Great Britain was noto- 
riously " the aggressor ;" and that none of " the original causes 
of complaint had been removed" previous to the declaration of 
war. 

Just as this page was going to press, I met with an impor- 
tant document, which bears powerfully and unanswerably on this 
topic. It is entitled 

" An abstract of the returns or lists received from general Lyman, of Ameri- 
can seamen and citizens, who have been impressed and held on board his Bri- 
tannic majesty's ships of war, from the first of October, 1807, till the thirty- 
first of March, 1809." 

The whole number of impressed men included in these re- 
turns, is - - - - - 873 

Of whom were discharged - - _ 287 

Applications unanswered _ - - _ i03 

In ships on foreign stations - - - .48 

Deserted - - • - - - 32 

British subjects - - - - - - 98 

Having voluntarily entered - - - - 34 

Married in England or Ireland - - -7 

The remaining 264 were refused to be discharged on various 
gi'ounds, of irregularity of documents, &c. &c. — But let it be 
borne in eternal remembrance, that of the xvhole nu7nber^ 873, 
there -were only 98 xvho were detaiyied as British subjects I ! 

This single document is of itself abundantly sufficient to brand 
with infamy, beyond the power of appeal or justification, the 
odious practice of impressment. Eight hundred and seventy- 
three persons, sailing under the American flag, which ought to 
have insured them full and complete protection, are seized with 
every circumstance of outrage, oppression, injury, and injustice, 
as British subjects — are torn from their friends and families 
and country — are compelled to fight the battles of Great Britain, 
at the risque of being slaughtered by her enemies — they are sub- 
ject to the most ignominious punishment, if they dare refuse to 
serve ; and yet, good heavens ! what an abomination ! when 
their cases are fully investigated, it is found that only 98 of 
them are asserted to be — though they rvere all stolen wider pre- 
tence that they rvere — British subjects .' ! 

I make a solemn appeal on this subject — not to the United 
States — not to the British nation — not to France — but to the 
whole world — and boldly aver, and dare contradiction, that no 



CHAP. 47] TURBLT.ENCE OF BOSTON, 253 

nation ever perpetrated such atrocious, such horrible, such law= 
less violence on another nation, in a state of pretended peace 
and friendship ; and that no nation, with equal means of defence 
and offence, ever before submitted to such humiliation, such de- 
gradation, as Great Britain heaped on the United States. 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

Turbulence of Boston. Boston acts on Massachusetts. 3Iassa'- 
chusetts acts on the other eastern states, jfealousies and discord 
sedulously excited. Hateful picture of the southern states. 

Boston, the metropolis of Massachusetts, has been for along 
period, and more particularly since the close of the reign of fe- 
deralism, the seat of discontent, complaint, and turbulence. She 
has been herself restless and uneasy — and has spread restlessness 
and uneasiness throughout the union. She has thwarted, ha> 
rassed, and embarrassed the general government, incomparably 
more than all the other states together. 

Whatever difficulty or distress arose from the extraordinary 
circumstances of the times — and great difficulty and distress 
were inevitable — was aggravated and magnified to the highest 
degree, for the purpose of inflaming the public passions. The 
leaders in tliis business were clamorous, when we were at peace 
iu 1793, and in 1806, for war against England, on account of 
her depredations on their commerce, and in 1807, on account 
of the attack on the Chesapeake. They were equally clamorous, 
as w^e have seen, in 1803, for w^ar against Spain, on account of 
the interruption of the right of deposit at New Orleans, and 
denounced, in the most virulent style, the imbecility and cow- 
ardice of the government. Yet from the moment when war 
was declared, they clamoured for peace, and reprobated the war 
as wicked, unjust, and unnecessary, although the causes of war 
were incomparablv greater in 1812, than in 1793, or 1806, or 
1807.* They made everv possible effort to raise obstructions 
and difficulties, in the prosecution of the war ; and yet repro- 
hated the administration for their imbecility in carrying it on. 
They reduced the government to bankruptcy, as I trust I shall 
prove ; and reproached it for its necessities and embarrassments. 
In a word, all their movements have had but one object, to en- 
feeble and distract the government, for the purpose of regaining 
their lost authority. This object has been too successfully at- 
tained. 

With a population of only 33,000 inhabitants, and a com- 
merce quite insignificant, compared with that of New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Charleston, Boston has, by manage- 
ment and address, acquired a degree of influence beyond all 
proportion greater than her due share — greater in fact than the 

* See chapters 43 and 44. 

O. B. 34 



254 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. ' [chap, 47. 

above four cities combined — a degree of influence which has 
been exercised in such a manner as to become dangerous to 
public and private property and happiness, and to the peace and 
permanence of the union. It brought us to the very verge of 
its dissolution, and nearly to the awful consequence — a civii 
war. 

The movers of this mighty piece of machinery — this lever 
that puts into convulsive motion the whole of our political fa- 
bric, are few in number. But several of them are possessed ot 
inordinate wealth — considerable talents — great energy — and 
overgrown influence. They afford a signal proof how much a 
few men may effect by energy and concert, more especially when 
they ai"e not very scrupulous about the means of accomplishing 
their ends. A northern confederacy has been the object for a 
number of years. They have repeatedly advocated in the pub- 
lic prints a separation of the states, on account of a pretended 
discordance of views and interests of the different sections. 

This project of separation was formed shortly after the adop- 
tion of the federal constitution. Whether it was ventured be- 
fore the public, earlier than 1796, I know not. But of its pro- 
mulgation in that year, there is the most indubitable evidence. 
A most elaborate set of papers, under the signature of Pelham, 
was then published in the city of Hartford, in Connecticut, the 
joint production of an association oT men of the first talents and 
influence in the state. They appeared in the Connecticut Cou- 
rant, published by Hudson and Goodwin, two eminent printers, 
of, I believe, considerable revolutionary standing. There were 
then none of the long catalogue of grievances, which, since that 
period, have been fabricated to justify the recent attempts to 
dissolve the union. General Washington was president ; John 
Adams, an eastern citizen, vice-president. There was no 
French influence — no Virginia dynasty — no embargo — no non- 
intercourse — no terrapin policy — no democratic madness — no 
war. — In fine, every feature in the affairs of the country was 
precisely according to their fondest wishes. 

To sow discord, jealousy, and hostility between the different 
sections of the union, was the first and grand step in their ca- 
reer, in order to accomplish the favourite object of a separation 
of the states. 

In fact, without this efficient instrument, all their efforts would 
have been utterly unavailing. It would have been impossible, 
had the honest yeomanry of the eastern states continued to re- 
gard their southern fellow citizens as friends and brethren, hav- 
ing one common interest in the promotion of the general wel- 
fare, to make them instruments in the hands of those who in- 
tended to employ them to operate the unholy work of destroy- 
ing the noble, the august, the splendid fabric of our union and 
unparalleled form of government. 



CHAP. 47.3 iLLIBERALITY. 255 

For eighteen years, therefore, the most unceasing endeavour.s 
have been used to poison the minds of the people of the eastern 
states towards, and to alienate them from, their fellow citizens 
of the southern. The people of the latter section have been 
pourtrayed as demons incarnate, destitute of all the good quali- 
ties that dignify or adorn human nature — that acquire esteem or 
regard — that entitle to respect and veneration. Nothing can 
exceed the virulence of these caricatures, some of which would 
have suited the ferocious inhabitants of New-Zealand, i-ather 
than a civilized or polished nation. 

To illustrate, and remove all doubt on, this subject, I subjoin 
an extract from Pelham's essays, No. I. 

" Negroes are, in all respects, except in regard to life and death, the cattle 

of the citizens of the southern states. Jfthey were good fur food, the probability 
is, that even the poiver of destroying their lii^es ivould be enjoyed by their owners, 
as fully as it is over the lives of their cattle. It camwt be, that their laius prohibit 
the owners from killing their slaves, because those slaves are human beings, or be- 
cause it is a moral evil to destroy them. If that were the case, how can they jus- 
tify their being treated, in all other respects, like brutes ? for it is in this point 
of view alone, that negroes in the southern states are considered in fact as dif- 
ferent from cattle. They are bought and sold ; they are fed or kept hungry ; 
they al'e clothed, or i-educed to nakedness ; they are beaten, turned out to the 
fury of the elements, and torn from their dearest connections, with as little re^ 
morse as if they were beasts of the fehV 

Never was there a more infamous or unfounded caricature 
than this — never one more disgraceful to its author. It may 
not be amiss to state, and it enhances ten-fold the tiu^pitude of 
the writer, that at the period when it was written, there were 
many slaves in Connecticut, who were subject to every one of the 
disadvantages that attended the southern slaves. 

Its vile character is further greatly aggravated by the con- 
sideration that a large portion of these very negroes, and their 
ancestors, had been purchased, and rent from their hotnes and 
families, by citizens of the eastern states, who were actually at 
that moment, and long afterwards, engaged in the Slave Trade, 

I add a few more extracts from Pelham : — ■ 

" We have reached a critical period in our political existence. The ques- 
tion must soon be decided, whether we shall contimte a nation, at the expense 
even of our union, or sink with the present mass of difficulty into confusion and 
slavery. 

" Many advantages were supposed to be secured, and many evils avoided, 
by an union of the states. I shall not deny that the supposition was well 
founded. But at that time those advantages and those evils were magnified 
to a far greater size, than either would be if the question was at this moment 
to be settled. 

" The northern states can subsist as a nation, a republic, without any connec- 
tion with the ■■southern. It cannot be contested, that if the southern states were 
possesssed of the same political ideas, an union would be still more desirable 
than a separation. But when it becomes a serious question, whether we sliall 
give up our government, or part with the states south of the Potomac, no man 
north of that river, whose heart is not thoroughly democratic, can hesitate what 
decision to make. 

" I shall in the future papers consider some of the great events which w^ll 
lead to a separation of the United States f show the importance of retaining 



256 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chaf. 4". 

their present conslitution, even at the expense of a separation ; emleayonr to 
prove the imposdbilitij of an union for any long period in future, both from the 
moral and political habits of the citizens of the southern states,- and finally ex- 
amine carefully to see whether rve have not alreadi/ approached to the era when 
they must be divided."" 

It is impossible for a man of intelligence and candour to read 
these extracts without feeling a decided conviction that the 
writer and his friends Avere determined to use all their endea. 
vours to dissolve the union, and endanger civil war and all its 
horrors, in order to promote their personal views. This aifords 
a complete clue to all the seditious proceedings that have occur- 
red since that period — the unceasing efforts to excite the public 
mind to that feverish state of discord, jealousy, and exaspera- 
tion, which was necessary to prepare it for convulsion. The 
parties interested would, on the stage of a separate confederacy, 
perform the brilliant parts of kings and princes, generals, and 
generalissimos — whereas on the grand stage of a general union, 
embracing all the states, they are obliged to sustain characters 
of perhaps a second or third rate. " Better to rule in hcll^ than 
obey in heaven.'''' 

The unholy spirit that inspired the Avriter of the above ex- 
tracts has been, from that hour to the present, incessantly em- 
ployed to excite hostility between the different sections of the 
union. To such horrible lengths has tiiis spirit been carried, 
that many paragraphs have occasionally appeared in the Boston 
papers, intended, and well calculated to excite the negroes of 
the southern states to rise and massacre their masters. This 
will undoubtedly appear incredible to the reader. It is never- 
theless sacredly "true. It is a species of turpitude and baseness, 
of which the world has produced fcAv examples. 

Thus some progress was made. But it was inconsiderable. 
"While the yeomanry of the eastern states were enriched by a 
beneficial commerce with the southern, they did not leel dis- 
posed to quarrel with them for their supposed want of a due 
degree of piety or morality. 

A deeper game was requisite to be played, or all the pains 
taken so far, would have been wholly fruitless. This was sedu- 
lously undertaken. The press literally groaned Vvith efforts to 
prove five points, wholly destitute of foundation. 

First, that the eastern states were supereminently commercial. 
Secondly, That the states south of the Susquehanna were 
whoUv agricultural. 

Thirdlv, That there is a natural and inevitable hostility be- 
tween commercial and agricultural states. 

Fourthly, That this hostility has uniformly pervaded the 
whole southern section of the union. And 

Fifthly, That all the measures of congress were dictnted by 
this hostility ; and were actually intended to ruin the comtr.er- 
cial, meaning the eastern states. 



CHAP. 47.] DELUSION. 25T 

I do not assert that these miserable, contemptible, and decep- 
tions positions were ever laid down in regular foi-m, as theses to 
argue upon. But I do aver, that they form the basis of three 
fourths of all the essays, paragraphs, squibs, and crackers, that 
have appeared in the Boston papers against the administration for 
many years past. " The Koad to Ruin," ascribed to John 
Lowell, now before me, is remarkable for its virulence, its acri- 
mony, its intemperance, and for the talents of the -v^riter. fie 
undoubtedly places his subject in the strongest point of light pos- 
sible for such a subject. But if you extract from his essays, 
the assumption of these positions, all the rest is a mere caput 
mortimm — all " sound and fury." On these topics the changes 
are rung in endless succession. The same observation will ap- 
ply, and with equal force, to hundreds, perhaps thousands of es- 
says and paragraphs, written on the same topic. 

Never was the — gutta non vi^ sed saepe cadendo — more com- 
pletely verified. These positions, however absurd, however ex- 
travagant, however ridiculous they appear in their naked form, 
have, by dint of incessant repetition, made such an impression 
upon the minds of a large portion of the people of the eastern 
states, that they are as thoroughly convinced of their truth, as of 
any problem in Euclid. 

Boston having acted upon and inflamed Massachusetts, that 
state acted upon, and put in movement the rest of the eastern 
states, more particularly Connecticut and Rhode Island. New 
Hampshire and Vermont are but partially infected w ith the tur- 
bulent and Jacobinical spirit that predominates in Massachusetts. 

It thus happens, that a people proverbially orderly, quiet, so- 
ber, and rational, were actually so highly excited as to be ripe 
for revolution, and ready to overturn the whole system of social 
order. A conspiracy was formed, which, as I have stated, and 
as cannot be too often repeated, promised fair to produce a con- 
vulsion — a disfsolut'ion of the union — and a civil rvar, unless the 
seduced people of that section of the union could be recovered 
from the fatal delusion they laboured under, and restored to their 
reason. 

I shall very briefly, and without much attention to order or 
regularitv, consider these positions. They are not entitled to a 
serious refutation, but merely as they have been made the in- 
struments of producing so much mischief. 

Before I touch upon the commercial points, I shall offer a few 
observations on the high and exalted pretensions of the people of 
the eastern states, to superior morality and religion, over the rest 
of the union. There has not been, it is true, quite so much pa- 
rade with these exclusive claims as on the subject of commerce. 
Perhaps the reason is that there was no political purpose to be 
answered by them. But that the people of that section of the 



258 rOLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cBAr.4r. 

union are in general thoroughly persuaded that they very far 
excel the rest of the nation in both religion and morals, no man 
who has been conversant with them can deny. This folly of 
self righteousness, of exalting ourselves above others, is too gc" 
neral all over the world ; but no where more prevalent, or to 
greater extent, than in the eastern states. To pretend to insti- 
tute a comparison between the religion and morals of the people 
of Boston and those of Philadelphia, New York, or Baltimore, 
would be considered as extravagant and absurd, as a comparison 
of the most licentious votary of Venus, with a spotless vestal. — 
The Rev. Jedidiah Morse has in some degree devoted his geo- 
graphy to, and disgraced it by, the perpetuation of this vile pre- 
judice. Almost every page that respects his own section of the 
union is higlily encomiastic. He colours with the flattering- 
tints of a partial and enamoured friend. But when once he pas- 
ses the Susquehannah, what a hideous reverse ! — Almost every 
thing is there frightful caricature. Society is at alow and me- 
lancholy ebb, -and all his most sombre tints are employed in the 
description, in order to elevate, by the contrast, his favourite 
Elysium, the eastern states. He dips his pen in gall when he 
has to pourtray the manners, or habits, or religion, of Virginia 
or Maryland, either of the Carolinas or Georgia, or the western 
country. 

I should enter far into the consideration of this procedure of 
Mr. Morse, but that it has been ably discussed by a superior 
pen. The editor of die Port Folio, hi mseit a decided federalist, 
reprobates, and pronounces a just and eternal condemnation on 
the illiberality of thus making a school, or indeed any other book, 
a vehicle to excite animosities between fellow citizens of differ- 
ent portions of the same nation. 

The character of the eastern states for morality has been vari- 
ous at various times. Not long since, it was at a very low ebb 
indeed. It is within the memory of those over whose chin no 
razor has ever mowed a harvest, that Yankee and sharper were 
regarded as nearly synonimous. And this was not among the 
low and illiberal, the base and vulgar. It pervaded all ranks of 
society. In the middle and southern states, traders were uni- 
versally very much on their guard against " Yankee tricks,^' 
when dealing with those of the eastern. 

They now arrogate to themselves (and, for party purposes, 
their claims are sometimes admitted by their political friends 
here) to be, as I have stated, a superior order to their fellow- 
citizens. — They look down upon the people of the southern states 
with as much contempt, and with the same foundation, as did 
the Pharisee of old on the despised Publican. 

Both of those views are grossly erroneous. They never, as 
a people, merited the opprobrium under which they formerly la- 



MAP. 48.] -DELUSION, 259 

boured. There were, it is true, many worthless miscreants 
among them, who, on their migration to the other states, were 
guilty of base tricks, which, by an illiberality disgraceful to our 
species, but nevertheless very common, were charged to the ac- 
count of the entire people of the eastern states, and brought them 
under a most undeserved odium. 

I feel a pride and pleasure in doing justice to the yeomanry 
of the eastern states. They will not suffer on a comparison with 
the same class of men in any part of the world. 1 hey are up- 
right, sober, orderly and regular — shrewd, intelligent, and well 
informed — and I believe there is not a greater degree of genuine 
native urbanity among the yeomanry of any country under the 
canopy of Heaven. And it is lainentable and unaccountable how 
they have allowed themselves to be so egregiously duped as they 
have been. I have known them long : and my respect for them, 
has gradually increased in proportion as my knowledge of them 
has extended. But I shall never admit any exclusive or super- 
eminent claim to the virtues which I know they possess. And 
I have no hesitation in averring, that although Boston, or Hart- 
ford, or Newhaven, may exhibit rather more appearance of reli- 
gion and piety, than New York, or Philadelphia, or Baltimore, 
yet the latter cities possess as much of the reality. It would 
astonish and frighten many of the pious people in New York or 
Philadelphia, to be informed — but they may nevertheless rely 
«])on the information as indubitably true — that a large portion 
of the clergy in the town of Boston, are absolute Unitarians ; 
and scout the idea of the divinity of Jesus Christ as com.pletely 
and explicitly as ever Dr. Priestly did. This is a digression. 
I did not intend to introduce it. Bvit since it is here, let it re- 
main. And let me add, that the present principal of Harvard 
College was known to be an Unitarian when he was elected. — - 
This fact establishes the very great extent and prevalence of the 
doctrine. 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Arrogance of the Claims of the Eastern States on the subject of 
Commerce. Statistical Tables. Comparison of the Exports 
of the several States. 

The high and sounding pretensions of the eastern states on 
the subject of commerce have been almost universally admitted. 
No person has ever thought it worth while to examine into the 
actual state of the facts. It has been presumed, that on a point 
where falsehood and deception could be so easily detected, such 
confident assertions would not be hazarded, unless they rested on 
a. strong foundation. And in drawing the line of demarcation 
between the eastern states and the rest of the union, in the minds 
of the mass of the community, all to the north and east of the line 



260 



POLITICAL OLIVfi BRANCIL 



[chap. 48. 



was regarded as devoted exclusively to commerce — all to the 
south and west, chiefly to agriculture. 

It is hardly possible to conceive a greater mistake. The rea- 
der will be astonished at the view I shall lay before him. I 
have been inexpressibly surprised myself at the developement, 
and even now can hardly credit my own statements. They are 
nevertheless indisputable. 

TABLE A. 

Table of Exports from the United States, of FOREIGJ^' and DOMESTIC pro- 



ductions and manufactures, from 17! 


51 to 1802. 


Carefully extracted from the 


treasury returns. 












. J^fassac/iusetts. 


JMaruland. 


S. Carolina. 


JVe^u-York. 


Pennsylvania. 


1791 


§2,519,000 


2,239,000 


2,693,000 


2,505,000 


3,436,000 


1792 


2,888,000 


2,623,000 


2,428,000 


2,535,000 


3,820,000 


1793 


3,755,000 


.'^ ,665,000 . 


. 3,191,000 


2,932,000 


6,958,000 


1794 


5,292,000 


5,686,000 


3,867,000 


5,442,000 


6,643,000 


1795 


7,117,000 


5,811,000 


5,998,000 


10,304,000 


11,518,000 


1796 


9,949,000 


9,201,000 


7,620,000 


12,208,000 


17,513,000 


1797 


7,502,000 


9,811,000 


6,505,000 


13,308,000 


11,446,000 


1798 


8,639,000 


12,746,000 


6,994,000 


14,300,000 


8,915,000 


1799 


11,421,000 


16,299,000 


8,729,000 


18,719,000 


12,431,000 


1800 


11,326,000 


12,264,000 


10,663,000 


14,045,000 


11,949,000 


1801 


14,870,000 


12,767,000 


14,304,000 


19,851,000 


17,438,000 


1802 


13,492,000 
98,770,000 


7,914,000 


10,639,000 


13,792.000 


12,677,000 




101,026,000 


83,631,000 


129,941,000 


124,744,000 




Connecticut. 


Virginia. 


Rhode Island. Gcorifia, 


JV*. Harnpsliire. 


1791 


g710,000 


3,131,000 


470,000 


491,000 


142,000 


1792 


879,000 


3,552,000 


698,000 


459,000 


181,000 


1793 


770,000 


2,987,000 


616,000 


520,000 


198,000 


1794 


812,000 


3,321,000 


954,000 


263,000 


153,000 


1795 


819,000 


3,490,000 


1,222,000 


695,000 


229,000 


1796 


1,452,000 


5,268,000 


1,589,000 


950,000 


378,000 


1797 


814,000 


4,908,000 


975,000 


644,000 


275,000 


1798 


763,000 


6,113,000 


947,000 


961,000 


361,000 


1799 


1,143,000 


6,292,000 


1,055,000 


1,396,000 


361,000 


1800 


1,114,000 


4,430,000 


1,322,000 


1,174,000 


431,000 


1801 


1,446,000 


5,655,000 


1,832,000 


1,755,000 


555,000 


1802 


1,606,000 


3,978,000 


2,433,000 


1,854,000 


565,000 




12,328,000 


53,125,000 


14,113,000 
Una. M 


11,162,000 


3,829,000 




Vermont. 


»V. Caro 


'.w Jersey, 


Delaware. 


1791 




524,000 


26,000 


119,000 


1792 




527 


',000 


23,000 


133,000 


1793 




365,000 


54,000 


93,000 


1794 




321,000 


58,000 


207,000 


1795 




49:; 


>000 


130,000 


158,000 


1796 




671,000 


59,000 


201,000 


1797 




540,000 


18,000 


98,000 


1798 




53} 


%000 


61,000 


183,000 


1799 


20,000 


485,000 


9,000 


297,000 


1800 


57,000 


769,000 


2,000 


418,000 


1801 


57,000 


874,000 


25,000 


662,000 


1802 


31,000 


659,000 


26,000 


440,000 



165,000 



6,764,000 



491;000 



3,009,000 



•HAP. 48*1 STATISTICS. 261 

N. B. In the preceding and succeeding tables of exports, the figures below 
thousands are uniformly omitted, as not material to the calculation— and afiect- 
ing equally both sides of tlie question. 

Comparative views of the exports from the different states^ of 
foreign and domestic articles^ from 17^1 to 1802, inclusively. 
See 'I'able A. 

I. Maryland exported more than eight times as much as Con- 
necticut; more than seven times as much as Rhode Island; two 
per cent, more than " the great commercial state*' of Massachu- 
setts ; and very nearly as much as Massachusetts, New-Hamp- 
shire and Vermont united. 

Maryland 101,026,000 

Massachusetts ------ 98,770,000 

New Hampshire ----- 3,829,000 

Vermont 165,000 

102,764,000 

Connecticut ... - - - 12,328.000 

Rhode Island " 14,11^,000 

II. Marvland exported above tiuo hundred andthirtij per cent. 

more than New Hampshire^ Vermont^ Connecticut^ and Rhode 

Is/and. 

Maryland „■ 101.026,000 

New Hampshire ... - o,829,000 

Veimont ....-- 165,000 

Connecticut .... - 12,o28,000 

l^^-^^l^l-'l ''^''''''' 30,435,000 

III. South Carolina exported nearly six times as much as 
Rhode Island ; nearly seven times as much as Connecticut ; 
above twenty times as much as New Hampshire ; 500 times 
as much as Vermont ; and OJie hundred and seventy per cent, 
viore than those four states. 

Soutl. Carolina 83,631,000 

New Hampshire io^;Q'nnn ' 

Connecticut " h'^To'^nn 

Rhode Island ^^'llt'^S^. 

^'-™«"^ _'.!!fi'30,435,000 

IV. Virginia exported seventy-three per cent, more than the 
four minor eastern states. 

Virginia -.----- 53,125,000 

N. Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and R. Island. See No. 2. 30,435,000 

V. Virginia and South Carolina exported eight per cent, more 
than the five " great commercial eastern states ! ! .'" 

Virginia ----- -53,125,000 

Smith firolina 83,631,000 

bouth Laioiina .136,756,000 



Massachusetts 98,770,000 

New Hampshire, Vermont, &c. See No. 2. » ^!!:^^f^i29 2Q5,00Q 

O. B. 35 



262 



POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. 



[chap. 48. 



VI. North Carolina exported seventy per cent, more than 
New Hampshire and Vermont. 

North Carolina 5,764,000 

New Hampshire 3,829,000 



Vermont 



165,000 



3,994,000 
VII. Georgia exported nearly as much as Connecticut. 

Georgia - 12,162,000 

Connecticut - 12,328,000 

VIII. The five southern states exported nearly twice as much 
as the five great commercial eastern states ! ! ! 

Maryland - - - - - - 101,026,000 

Virginia 53,125,000 



6,764,000 
83,631,000 
12,162,000 



North Carolina .... 

South Carolina . - . - . 

Georgia .... - 

256,708,000 

Five eastern states. See No. 5. . - - - - 129,205,000 

IX. Pennsylvania alone exported nearly as much as the " five 
great commercial eastern states." 



Peinis3'h 


rania 


. 


. 


. 


124,744,000 


Five eastern states. See 


: No. 5. 


- 


- 


129,205,000 






TABLE B. 






FOREIGJV PRODUCTIOjYS and , 


MAJS'UFACTURES exhoi 


'ted from the 


United Statfufrom 1803 to 1813. Carefully taken from the treasury returns. 




jMassachusetts. 


J\'ev>-¥ork: 


Pennsylvcmia. 


iS'. Carolina. 


JMaryland. 


1803 


§3,369,000 


3,191,000 


3,504,000 


947,000 


1,371,000 


1804 


10,591,000 


8,580,000 


6,851,000 


2,309,000 


5,213,000 


1805 


13,738,000 


15.384,000 


9,397,000 


3,108,000 


7,450,000 


1806 


14,577,000 


13,709,000 


13,809,000 


2,946,000 


10,919,000 


1807 


13,926,000 


16,400,000 


12,055,000 


3,783,000 


10,282,000 


1808 


3,619,000 


3,243,000 


2,946,000 


260,000 


1,956,000 


1809 


6,119,000 


4,232,000 


4,810,000 


385,000 


4,056,000 


1810 


7,251,000 


6,313,000 


6,241,000 


408,000 


3,213,000 


1811 ■ 


5,192,000 


3,518,000 


3,865,000 


210,000 


3,820,000 


1812 


2,648,000 


2,358,000 


1,313,000 


11,000 


1,929,000 


1813 


294,000 


1,124,000 


327,000 


53,000 


1,005,000 




81,324,000 
Connecticut. . 


78,052,000 


65,118,000 


14,420,000 


50,214,000 




Rhode Island. 


Virginia. 


Georgia. JV. Hampshire. 


1803 


§10,000 


611,000 


151,000 


25,000 


51,000 


1804 


29,000 


817,000 


395,000 


74,000 


262,000 


1805 


90,000 


1,506,000 


660,000 


43,000 


218,000 


1806 


193,000 


1,142,000 


428,000 




383,000 


1807 


105,000 


915,000 


367,000 


34,000 


314,000 


1808 


15,000 


102,000 


18,000 




2,000 


1809 


11,000 


626,000 


107,000 




85,000 


1810 


5,000 


456,000 


189,000 


3,000 


9,000 


1811 


38,000 


626,000 


23,000 


11,000 


53,000 


1812 




150,000 


17,000 




9,000 


1813 


5,000 


2,000 









501,000 6,953,000 2,355,000 



190,000 1,386,000 



6HAP. 48.] 




STATISTICS. 




S63 




Vermont. 


JV. Carolina. 


JYev) Jersey. 


Delanvare. 


1803 


27,000 


26,000 




240,000 


1804 


55,000 


9,000 




517,000 


1805 


67,000 


12,000 




280,000 


1806 


102,000 


3,000 


7,000 


374,000 


1807 


55,000 


4,000 


5,000 


151,000 


1808 


25,000 




8,000 


70,000 


1809 


49,000 




50,000 


41,000 


1810 


26,000 


2,000 


37,000 


40,000 


1811 


538,000 


4,000 






1812 


131,000 








1813 




1,000 








1,075,000 


61,000 


107,000 


1,713,000 



Comparative views of foreign articles, exported from 1803 to 1813. See precediiiff 

Table B. 

I. Maryland exported above seven times as much as Rliode 
Island ; thirty-five times as much as New Hampshire ; forty- 
five times as much as Vermont ; one hundred times as much as 
Connecticut ; and above five times as much as the four minor 
eastern states. 

Maryland ... 50,214,000 

Connecticut - - - - 501,000 

Rhode Island - - - 6,953,000 

New Hampshire - - - 1,386,000 

Vermont . - - , . 1,075,000 

9,915,000 

II. South Carolina exported nearly twice as much as Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island ; above ten times as much as New 
Hampshire ; and above 40 per cent more than the four minor 
eastern states. 

South Carolina - - ' - - - - 14,420,000 

Connecticut -_...- 501,000 

Rhode Island - - - - - ' 6,953,000 

7,454,000 

New Hampshire .... - 1,386,000 

Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island. No I. 9,915,000 

III. Maryland and South Carolina exported nearly eighty 
per cent, of the amount exported by Massachusetts and Connec- 
ticut. 

Mainland . . - . . 50,214,000 

South Carolina - , - - - 14,420,000 



Connecticut . - . - - 501,000 

Massachusetts ...» - 81,324,000 



-64,634,000 



-81,825,000 

IV. Virginia exported almost five times as much as Connec- 
ticut ; and above twenty per cent, more than Connecticut and 
New Hampshire. 

Virginia - - - - ' - 2,355,000 

Coiuiecticut - - - - - 501,000 

New Hampshire .... 1,386,000 

.^—-^ 1,887,000 



364 



POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. 



[chap. 48. 







TABLE C. 






DOMESTIC PJiOBUCTWjYS and 


JLi.VUFJCTURES exported from the 


Uiiited States from 1803 to 181o. CarefuUy extracted from the treasury returns. 




Ji^Tussachusetts. 


S. Carolina. , 


Man/land. 


JVe-itr- York. Pennsvlvania. 


1803 


g 5,399,000 


6,863,000 


3,707,000 


7,626,000 


4,021,000 


1804 


6,303,000 


5,142,000 


3,938,000 


7,501,000 


4,178,000 


1805 


5,697,000 


5,957,000 


3,408,000 


8,098,000 


4,365,000 


1806 


6,621,000 


6,797,000 


3,661,000 


8,053,000 


3,765,000 


1807 


6,185,000 


7,129,000 


4,016,000 


9,957,000 


4,809,000 


1808 


1,5U8,000 


1,404,000 


764,000 


2,362,000 


1,066,000 


1809 


6,022,000 


2,861,000 


2,570,000 


8,348,000 


4,238,000 


1810 


5,761,000 


4,881,000 


3,275,000 


10,928,000 


4,751,000 


1811 


6,042,000 


4,650,000 


4,553,000 


8,747,000 


5,694,000 


1812 


3,935,000 


2,1/24,000 


3,956,000 


6,603,000 


4,660,000 


1813 


1,513,000 


2,815,000 


2,782,000 


7,060,000 


3,249,000 




54,986,000 
Virgiiua. 


50,523,000 . 


36,630,000 


85,283,000 


44,796,000 




Connecticut. 


Georgia. 


R. Island. J\r. 


, Hampshire. 


1803 


^5,949,000 


1,238,000 


2,345,000 


664,000 


443,000 


1804 


5,394,000 


1,486,000 


2,003,000 


917,000 


453,000 


1805 


4,945,000 


1,353,000 


2,351,000 


1,065,000 


389,000 


1806 


4,626,000 


1,522,000 


82,000 


949,000 


411,000 


1807 


4,393,000 


1,519,000 


3,710,000 


741,000 


365,000 


1808 


508,000 


397,000 


24,000 


139,000 


122,000 


1809 


2,786,000 


655,000 


1,082,000 


658,000 


201,000 


1810 


4,632,000 


762,000 


2,234,000 


874,000 


225,000 


1811 


4,798,000 


994,000 


2,557,000 


944,000 


315,000 


1812 


2,983,000 


720,000 


1,066,000 


604,000 


194,000 


1813 


1,819,000 


968,000 


1,094,000 


234,000 


29,000 




42,833,000 
Vermont. JV. Ca 


11,614,000 1 


18,548,000 


7,789,000 


3,147,000 




rolina. JV. .Jersey. Delaware. A'. Orleans. 


Columbia. 


1803 


§89,000 926.000 21,000 


187,000 




1,412,000 


1804 


135,000 919,000 24,000 


180,000 


1,392,000 


1,157,000 


1805 


101,000 767 


',000 20,000 


77,000 


2,338,000 


1,135,000 


1806 


91,000 786,000 26,000 


125,000 


2,357,000 


1.091,000 


1807 


148,000 740,000 36,000 


77,000 


3,161,000 


1,363,000 


1808 


83,000 117,000 12,000 


38,000 


537,000 


281,000 


1809 


125,000 322,000 269,000 


96,000 


344,000 


681,000 


1810 


406,000 401,000 392,000 


79,000 


1,753,000 


984,000 


1811 


32,000 79:: 


i,000 1,000 


76,000 


2,501,000 


2,060,000 


1812 


7,000 489,000 4,000 


29,000 


1,012,000 


1,593,000 


1813 


79c 


i,000 10,000 


133,000 


1,013,000 


1,387,000 



1,217,000 7,055,000 815,000 1,097,000 16,408,000 13,144,000 



Comparative views of domestic articles., exported from 1803 t9 
1813. See preceding Table C. 

I. South Carolina exported within eight per cent, of the 
whole amount exported by Massachusetts ; nearly seven times 
as much as Rhode Island ; above four times as much as Con- 
necticut ; and above twice as much as the four minor eastern 
states. 



CHAP. 48.] STATISTICS. 265 

South Carolina 50,523,000 

Massachusetts ..---- 54,£>8a,000 

New Hampshh-e .... - 3,147,000 

Vemiont - . - - - 1,217,000 

Connecticut - - - > - - " 11,614,000 

Rhode Island - - - - •- 7,789,000 



-23,767,000 

II. Virginia and Maryland exported more than all the eastern 
states. 

Virgioia - ■- - ' - - - 42,833,000 

Maryland .... 36,63(.,000 



79,463,000 



Massachusetts - - - - - - 54,985,100 

N. Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, 23,767,000 

78,752,000 

III. North Carolina exported almost seventy.five per cent, 
more than New Hampshire and Vermont, and nearly as much as 
Rhode Island. 

North Carolina - .... 7,055,000 

NewHampsliire - . . , - 3,147,000 

Vermont - - .... 1,217,000 

4,364,000 

Rhode Island 7,789,000 

IV. North Carolina and Georgia exported more than the four 
minor eastern states. 

North Carolina - .... 7,055,000 

Georgia 18,548,000 

25,603,000 

New Hampshire, Vemiont, Connecticut, &c- (No. 1.) 23,767,000 

V. Georgia exported nearly twenty per cent, more than Con- 
necticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont. 

Georgia - 18,548,000 

Connecticut .... - 11,614,000 

New Hampshire ..... 3,147,000 

Vermont ..... 1,217,000 



-15,978,000 

VI. The district of Columbia mid the state of Georgia export- 
ed thirty per cent, more than New Hampshire^ Fertnont^ Connect 
ticut and Rhode Island. 

Columbia ..... 13,144,000 

Georgia - - .... 18,548,000 

^ 31,692,000 

N. Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and R. Island (No. 1.) 23,767,000 

VII.' Virginia^ Maryland^ and South Carolina exported above 
sixty per ceiit. more than the eastern states. 

Virginia 42,833,000 

Maiyknd 36,630,000 

South Carohna 50,523,000 

129,986,000 

Fire eastern states (in No. 2.) - - - 78,752,000 



266 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cbap. 48, 

VIII. The district of Columbia^ of ten miles square^ exported 
more than New Hampshire^ Vermont^ and Rhode Island. 

Columbia 13,144,00© 

New Hampshire . - . - - 3,147,000 

Vermont ..-.-- 1,217,400 

Khocle Island 7,789,000 

12,153,000 

IX. The state of Virginia exported above half as much as the 
five easteiTi states, 

Virginia .-.--. - 42,833,000 

The five eastern states (See No. 2.) - - - 78,752,000 

X. Virginia exported nearly as much, and South Carolina 
fourteen per cent, more, than Pennsylvania. 

Virginia 42,833,000 

South Carolina .... . - - - 50,523,000 

Pennsylvania - - - - - - 44,796,000 

XI. Virginia exported five hundred and fifty per cent, more 
than Rhode Island ; — 'three hundred and fifty per cent, more 
than Connecticut ; and almost a thousand per cent, more than 
New Hampshire and Vermont. 

Virginia 42,833,000 

Rhode Island - 7,789,000 

Connecticut --...- 11,614,000 

New Hampshire -----. 3,147,000 

Vermont 1,217,000 

4,364,000 

XII. The district of Columbia and Virginia exported more 
than Massachusetts I 

Columbia 13,144,000 

Virginia ------ 42,833,000 

55,977,000 

Massachusetts - . - . . 54,986,000 

XIII. The district of Columbia exported ten per cent, more 
than that great state wherein the Hartford Convention sat to 
regulate cominerce ! 

Columbia - - - - 13,144,000 

Connecticut .... - 11,614,000 

XIV. South Carolina and Georgia exported more than Massa- 
chusetts^ Rhode Island^ New Hampshire^ and Vermont 1 J .' 

South Carolina - . . - 50,523,000 

Georgia - - - . . 18,548,000 

69,071,008 

Massachusetts . - . , - 54,986,000 

Rhode Island - .... 7,789,000 

New Hampsliire - . . - . 3,147,000 

Vermont . -^ . . . 1,217,000 

67,139,000 



CHAP. 48.] STATISTICS. 267 

XV. South Carolina exported above 250 per cent, more than 
Connecticut ; above five hundred per cent, more than Rhode Is- 
land ; and above one hundred and fifty per cent, more than both 
these states. 

South Carolina - '- - - - 50,523,000 

Connecticut .... - 11,614,000 

Rhode Island ..... 7,789,000 

19,403,000 

XVI. Maryland exported above fifty per cent more than the 
four minor eastern states. 

Maryland - ..... 36,630,000 

Four minor eastern states (No. 1.) - - - - 23,767,000 

XVII. North Carolina and Georgia exported more than the 
four minor eastern states. 

North Carolina - . . . . 7,055,000 

Georg-ia ...... 18,548,000 

25,603,000 

Four minor eastern states (No. 1.) - . - 23,767,000 

XVIII. South Carolina, Columbia, and New-Orlean?, export- 
ed more than the five eastern states. 

South Carolina - - . 50,5-3,000 

Columbia - - . - 13,144,000 

New Orleans - - . - 16,408,000 

80,075,000 

Five eastern states (No. 2.) - - 78,752,u00 

XIX. The five southern states, the district of Columbia, and 
New Orleans, exported above tAvo hundred and thirty per cent, 
more than the five eastera states, and within ten per cent, as much 
as the middle and eastern states. 

Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina (No. 7.) 129,986,000 

North Carolina - - . 7,055,000 

Georgia - . , . 18,548,000 

Columbia - . - 13,144,000 

New Orleans - - . 16,408,000 



Five eastern states (No. 2.) - - 78,752,000 

New-York - - . 85,283,000 

Pennsylvania - - - 44,796,000 



185,141,000 



208,831,000 

XX. New Orleans exported above twelve times as much as 
Vermont ; above twice as much as Rhode Island ; nearly 50 per 
cent, more than Connecticut ; above three times as much as New 
Hampshire ; and more than New Hampshire, Vermont, and 
Connecticut. 

New Orleans - .... 16,408,000 

New Hampshire ■. - - 3,147,000 

Vermont . . . 1,217,000 

Connecticut - . - 11,614,000 

15,978,000 

Khode Island - - - 7,789,000 



268 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 48. 

The reader must be tired of this investigation. "What idea 
must the world form of the arrogance and deception of the pre- 
tensions on the one side — and, on the other, of the folly and 
weakness of the rest of the union, to have so long suffered them 
to pass without detection and exposure. 

The naked fact is, that the demagogues in the eastern states, 
not satisfied with deriving all the benefits from the southern sec- 
tion of the union, that they would from so many wealthy colo- 
nies — with making princely fortunes by the carriage and expor- 
tation of its bulky and valuable productions — and supphing it 
with their own manufactures, and the manufactures and pro- 
ductions of Europe, and the East and West Indies, to an enor- 
mous amount, and at an immense profit — have unifc rmly treat- 
ed it with outrage, insult, and injury. And, regardless of their 
vital interests, the eastern states lately courted their own de- 
struction, by allowing a few restless, turbulent men to lead them 
blindfolded towards a separation, pregnant xvith their certain 
ruin. Whenever that event takes place^ they sink to their native 
ijisignifcance. 

If a separation Avere desirable to any part of the imion, it would 
be to the middle and southern states, particularly the latter, 
which have been so long harassed with the complaints, the rest- 
lessness, the turbulence, and the ingratitude of the eastern states, 
that their patience has been taxed almost beyond endurance. 
'■'' JesJiurun waxed fat^ ajid kicked.'''' And he will be severely 
punished for his kicking, in the event of a dissolution of the 
union. 

It ought to be observed, that a very large portion of the ex- 
ports from the eastern, consists of the productions of the 
southern states, first transported to Boston and other ports, 
coastwise. So that even the comparisons I have made, which are 
so mortal to the pretessions of the eastern states, place them on 
far better ground than they really deserve. For example — sup- 
pose, among the exports of these states, two millions of dollars* 
worth of cotton, One million of dollars' worth of flour, one miL 
lion (>f dollars' worth of naval stores, all drawn from the south- 
ern and middle states — ^they appear four millions of dollars 
stronger on the face of the argument, than they are in fact and 
in truth. And there is no doubt that this is the case to a vast 
extent. 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

Compariso?! of the expoi-ts^ foreign and domestic ^of the different 
states^ from 1791 to 1813. Glance at tonnage. 

To enable the reader to form a fair comparison between the 
commerce of the different states, I annex a synoptical view of 



CBAP. 49.3 



STATISTICS. 



269 



the whole of our exports from the organization of the federal 
government till the close of 1813. He will see, at a sino-le 
glance, how very erroneous are the opinions that have hitherto 
prevailed on the subject; and how high even the foreign com- 
merce of the southern states soars over that of the boasted 
^^ commercial states^'' 

General total of exports of foreign and domestic productions from tlie year 1791 to 

1813, inclusive. 





JMassachusetts. 


JMaryland. 


S. Carolina. 


JVe^v-York. 


Pennsylvania. 


A 


98,770,000 


101,026,000 


83,631,000 


129,941,000 


124,744,000 


B 


81,r>24,000 


50,214,000 


14,420,000 


78,052,000 


65,118,000 


€ 


54,986,000 


36,630,000 


50,523,000 


85,283,000 


44,796,000- 



g235,080,000 187,870,000 148,574,000 293,276,000 234,658,000 



A 

B 
G 



A 
B 

e 



Virginia. Connecticut. 

53,125,000 12,328,000 

2,355,000 501,000 

42,833,000 11,614,000 



Georgia. Rhode Island. A*. Ifam/jsliire. 

12,162,000 14,113,000 3,829,000 

190,000 6,953,000 1,386,000 

18,548,000 7.789,000 3,147,000 



98,313,000 24,443,000 30,900,000 28,855,000 



8,362,000 



vV Carolina. Vermont. JVeiu .Jersey. JV'. Orleans. Columbia. Delaware 

6,764,000 165,000 491,000 3,009,000 

61,000 1,075,000 107,000 1,713,000 

7,055,000 1,217,000 815,000 16,408,000 13,144,000 1,097,000 



§13,880,000 2,457,000 1,413,000 16,408,000 13,144,000 5,819,000 



EXPLANATION. 

The first line, A, is taken from the table A, page 260. It contains the whole 
amount of the exports of foreign and domestic articles, from 1791 till 1802, in- 
clusive . 

The second line, B, is taken from the table B, page 262-3. It contains the 
whole of the foreign articles exported from 1802 till 1813, inclusive. 

The third line, C, is taken from the table C, page 264. It contains all the do- 
mestic articles exported from 1802 till 1813. 



Eastern sectioji. 


Middle section. 


So-uthern 


section. 


Mass. 235,080,000 


N. Jersey 1,413,000 


Maryland 


187,870,000 


N. Ham. 8,362,000 


Delaware 5,819,000 


Virginia 


98,313,000 


Vermont 2,457,000 


N. York 293,276,000 


N. Carolina 


13,880,000 


R. Island 28,855,000 


Penn. 234,658,000 


S. Carolina 


148,574,000 


Connec. 24,443,000 




Georgia 


30,900,000 






N. Orleans 


16,408,000 






Columbia 


13,144,000 



^299,197,000 535,166,000 509,089,000 < 

I cannot allow these tables to pass without requesting atten- 
tion to them in the most particular manner. As they throw an 
immense flood of light on a subject niost egregiously misunder- 
stood, and on which the most ruinous errors have prevailed, it 
behoves the reader to test his opinions by them, and lay aside 
the prejudices and misconceptions, if any, which he may have 
formed on these topics, 

O. B, 36 



270 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANClt [chap. 49. 

All the late confusion, the tendency to disorganize the coun- 
try, to overturn the government, and to introduce civil war, 
arose from the errors prevailing on the subject of commerce,* 
of which the eastern states pretended to be, and were absurdly 
and ridiculously believed, the exclusive guardians and protec- 
tors. It is now clearly and indisputably established, that the 
commerce of the eastern is very far indeed inferior to that of 
the southern states. It appears, beyond the possibility of doubt 
or denial, that the five eastern states, since the formation of 
the government, have exported of foreign and domestic articles, 
including an hnmetise amount of southern productions, only 
about 

229,000,000 dollars, 

of which a vast proportion was of foreign productions ; but that 
the southern states have in the same period exported to foreign 
countries no less a sum than 

509,000,000 dollars, 
priyicipally of their oxvn productions and manufactures, exclu- 
sive of the prodigious amount of their cotton, tobacco, rice, naval 
stores, &c. expoited by the eastern states. The southern section 
of the vmion, which has been so cruelly, so wickedly, so unjustly 
vilified and calumniated for its hostility to commerce, is there- 
fore actually more interested in its preservation than the eastern 
states, in the proportion of pve to three. There is no instance 
to be found, of so palpable, so gross, so unfounded a calumny, 
resting on such a sandy foundation, so open to detection, and so 
pregnant with most ruinous consequences, having remained so 
long without investigation. 

From a view of the preceding tables, it appears that the com- 
merce of four of the eastern states is to the last degree insigni- 
ficant, compared with that of the southern states, as will appear 
on the following comparisons : — 

I. Virginia, since the organization of the government, has ex- 
ported above four times as mvich as Connecticut ; considerably 
more than three times as mucli as Rhode Island ; twelve times 
as much as New Hampshire ; forty times as much as Vermont ; 
and above fifty per cent, more than those four states. 

Virg-inla .... 98,313,009 

Connecticut - - - 24,443,000 

Rhode Isliuul - - . . 28,855,000 

New H;impshire - - - 8,362,000 

Vermont - . . - 2,457,000 

64,117,009 

* The history of the world hardly presents an instance of greater delusion 
or deception than prevailed on this subject 



* 



CHAP. 49.] STATISTICS. 271 * 

II. Maryland has exported nearly eight times as much as 
Connecticut ; above six times as much as Rhode Island ; twen- 
ty-three times as much as New Hampshire; almost eighty times 
as much as Vermont ; and almost three times as much as the 
four minor states. 

Marvland 187,870,000 

Connecticut 24,443,000 

Rhode Island ..... 28,855,000 

New Hampshire .... - 8,362,000 

Vermont - ... 2,457,000 

64,117,000 

III. North Carolina has exported almost thirty per cent, more 
than New Hampshire and Vermont. 

North Carolina - . - - - ^ 13,880,000 

New Hampshire .... - 8,362,000 

Vermont - - .... 2,457,0u0 

10,819,000 

IV. Georgia has exported considerably more than Connecti- 
cut or Rhode Island ; and almost three times as much as New- 
Hampshire and Vermont. 

Georgia 30,900,000 

Connecticut ..... 24,443,000 

Rhode Island ..... 28,855,000 

New Hampshire ..... 8,362,000 

Vermont ------ 2,457,000 

10,819,000 

V. South Carolina has exported above five times as much as 
Rhode Island; above six times as much as Connecticut; and 
one hundred and fifty per cent, more than the four minor east- 
ern states. 

South Carolina 148,574,000 

Rhode Island - .... \ 28,855,000 

Connecticut - 24,443,000 

Four minor eastern states (see No. 1.) - - 64,117,000 

VI. New Orleans and the district of Columbia have exported 
more of domestic productions^ in eleven years, than either Con- 
necticut or Rhode Island in twenty-three, of foreign and do- 
mestic. 

New Orleans, In eleven years - - i 16,408,000 

Columbia, do. do. - '". i 13,114,000 

29,522,000 

Connecticut, in twenty-three years . - - 24,443,000 

Rhode Island, do. do. ' - - - * 28,855,000 

VII. New Orleans has exported nearly twice as much in ele- 
ven years, as New Hampshire in tvventy-three. 

New Hampshire, twenty-three yeai-s - * ' * , r'^n^'ma 

New Orleans, eleven years IM^a.^uu 

VIII. Virginia, 3Iaryland, and Columbia, have exported more 
than the whole five eastern states ! ! ! I .' I 



272 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. C^hap. 49 

Maryland 187,8/0,000 

Virginia 98,313,000 

Columbia 13,144,000 

299,327,000! ! '. 

Five eastern stales .... 299', 192^000 !![- 

IX. The southern states have exported seventy-Jive per cent^ 

more than the Jive eastern ! ! ! 

Southern states 509,089,000!!'. 

Eastern states 209,197,000!!! 

Since the preceding pages were written, I have examined an 
interesting work, entitled, '' A geographical and statistical view 
of Massachusetts proper, by Rodolphus Dickinson, published 
anno 1813." It greatly elucidates the subject I have been dis- 
cussing ; and places the unsoundness of the high commercial 
claims of Massachusetts in nearly as strong a point of light as 
any of the documents I have given. 

"The exports in 1809 from Boston and Charlestown, of American produc- 
tions and manufactures, were 4,009,029 dollars, of which the value of rice, cot- 
ton, flour, tobacco, staves, and naval stores, being principally the produce of the 
southern states, was 2,294,lo9 dollars." 

The writer adds, 

" This, it is presumed, bears a relative proportion in amount, to the exports 
of other years." Page 79. 

It thus appears, that although Boston has disturbed the tran- 
quillity of the United States by her impassioned complaints on 
the subject of commerce, and the injury it has sustained by the 
hostility of the southern states, she is indebted to those states 
for considerably more than half of the American articles she ex- 
ports. She moreover finds an invaluable market with them for 
the chief part of her immense foreign importations, and for her 
valtiflble manufactures. 

It really makes one's heart ache with vexation, to find that 
such mighty, such ruinous errors prevailed on those important 
topics — errors that generated the most baleful passions, which 
were hourly increased by artificial excitements, and which 
threatened us with the most awful consequences. 

The reader must not be surprised at the frequent repetition 
of this sentiment. For " out of the abundance of the heart the 
mouth speaketh ;" — and having been convinced that this was be- 
yond all comparison the most awful danger that threatened us, 
it is not to be wondered at, that it engrosses so large a space in 
this book. 

I shall conclude this topic with one observation, that there 
has rarely, perhaps never, occurred an instance of one nation 
more highly indebted to another than the eastern states are to 
the southern, and yet making such a very miserable and un- 
grateful return. 



(iHu. 49.] STATISTICS; 573 

I imagined that in the preceding chapters I had fully ex- 
liausted the comparison of the commercial importance of the 
several sections of the United States. I had, at all events con- 
vinced every man whose mind was open to conviction, that the 
arrogant claims on this subject, of the eastern states, were utterly 
unfounded ; and that the middle and southern sections had as 
much more interest in the protection of commerce than their 
eastern brethren, as the merchant who loads a wagon, with 
10,000 dollars worth of goods, has more interest in the inter- 
course between the seller and the consumer, than the oWner of 
the wagon. 

But I find I did not do full justice to the subject. A new 
view of it has been presented to the public by the indefatigable 
editor of the Weekly Register, which far transcends the views 
I took. But even Mr. Niles has not pursued the argument to 
the full extent of which it is susceptible. 

The exports of cotton from the port of Savannah alone, frofti 
the 20th of March till the 30th of June, 1815, a period of three 
jnonths and ten days, were 

Sea Island, 21,000 bales, each 300 lbs. at 33 1-3 

cents, . . . _ 2,100,000 

Upland, 55,582 bales, each 300 lbs. at twenty 

cents, - - _ . 3,334,000 



5,434,000 
Supposing all the other articles to amount to 1 ,066,000 

6,500,000 
and also supposing the exports of the remaining eight months 
and twenty days to amount to only half that sum, it is at the rate 
ef nearly 10,000,000 dollars for the year. 

A review of the tables in page 267, will show that the whole 
of the exports, of every kind, foreign and domestic, from the 
state of Massachusetts, for twenty three years, were only 
235,000,000 dollars, which is an average of about 10,000,000 per 
annum, whereof considerably more than half was foreign. It 
therefore follows, that the do7nestic exports of the single port of 
Savannah this year, [1815] will equal the average of the exports 
of every Ymd^ foreign aiid do7nestic^ from the mighty^ the power- 
ful^ the commercicd state of Massachusetts^ from the time of the 
organization of the government till the close of the year 1813! ! ! 

Tonnage. 

The eastern states, which maintained such arrogant commer- 
cial claims, on the ground of their exports and imports, likewise 
preferred high pretensions on their transcendant superiority in 
point of shipping. These towering claims are unfounded, al- 



274 POLITICAL OLIVE BR.iNCH. [chap. 49 

though not hi the same degree with the others. Let the reader 
decide. I have before me a statement of the tonnage of the 
United States for two years, from which I submit a few ex- 
tracts, in order to inter these pretensions in the same grave with 
the rest. 

Tonnage of 1805 1810 

Boston, 133,257 149,121 

New York, 243,533 268,541 

Philadelphia, 121,443 125,258 

Baltimore, 102,434 103,444 

Pordand, 33,007 32,599 

Portsmouth, 27,719 28,820 

Bath, 23,033 20,344 

Newburyport, 36,574 39,100 

Salem, 4^:^,53,7 41,462 

Norfolk, 90,943 48,643 

Charleston, 40,819 52,888 

Thus it appears, that in the year 1810, the tonnage of Norfolk, 
as well as of Charleston, was considerably superior to that of 
any port in the eastern or middle states, except Boston, New- 
York, and Philadelphia; and that the tonnage of Baltimore was 
more than double that of any port in the eastern states, except 
Boston. 

The aggregate tonnage of Vermont, New-Hamp- 
shire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, in tons 

1811, was 108,000 

That of the city of Baltimore in the same year 

was - 103,000 

that is, the tonnage of the single port of Baltimore, was very 
nearly equal to the whole amount of the tonnage of these four 
states, which have made svich a clamour on the subject of com- 
merce. The tonnage of the whole district of Maryland for that 
year was 143,000 tons, being an excess of 35,000 tons, or nearly 
one third more than those states ! ! !* 

The clearances from the port of Savannah, exclusive of coast- 
erSy for April, May, and June, 1815, were 191, and the entries, 
also exclusive of coasters^ were 205. — Whereas the foreign en- 
tries into the port of Boston for five months, March, April, May, 
June, and July, 1815, were only 212 — and the foreign clearances 
only 270. That is, I beg peculiar attention to this point, the 
foreign entries into Savannah, in three months^ were 203, and 
into Boston in five months^ only 212 ! What a developement of 
the relative commerce of both ports ! how utterly beyond all 
expectation or calculation ! What a strong proof of the arro- 
gance and folly of the towering pretensions of the " Nation of 
New England ! ! !" 

» See AVeekly llegigter, Vol. VIIJ, pa^e 370, to which I am indebted for 
these facts. 



CHAP. 50.] DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 27S 



CHAPTER L. 

Another source of excitement among- the citizens of t/ie eastern 
states. Duties on imports. Statistics. Southern states pay 
very nearly as much impost as the eastern. Wonderful de- 
lusion. 

Those demagogues whose unceasing efforts were employed 
to excite the passions of the yeomanry ot the eastern states, and 
prepare them for insurrection and a dissolution of the union, rai- 
sed a great clamour on the subject of the enormous amount of 
duties paid by those states, and the insignificance of the suras 
paid by the southern section of the nation. Tliey thence infer- 
red the injustice and the inequality of the union, and its oppres- 
sive operation upon the former section. 

This item of complaint is, if possible, more fallacious than the 
one discussed in the preceding chapters. The disadvantage is 
all on the other side of the question. The eastern states import 
largely from Europe, and from the East and West Indies, for 
the supply of the southern states. The former, it is true, bond 
or pay the duties in the first instance. This appears to give 
them a wonderful superiority in the table of chities. But it 
can hardly be necessary to inform the reader, that the merchant 
who bonds the duties, is not the actual payer of them. Mr. Ed- 
ward Thomson, of this city, has imported, during this year, 
[1815] and of course will pay duties on, goods to the amount of 
probably above 2,000,000 of dollars. His consumption of duti- 
able articles is probably not 2000 dollars. Who can be so igno- 
rant as to pretend, that the government is beholden to him for 
the amount of the duties ! They are paid by the farmers of 
Chester, and Bucks, and Lancaster, and Delaware, and Berks 
counties, and of the southern and western states, &c. &c. The 
duties are added by the merchant to the first cost, with a profit 
on both — and the ultimate consumer is the real payer. 

The eastern states have thus levied taxes not merely on Mary- 
land, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Crcorgia, but eveti 
on Pennsylvania ; for strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless 
true, that notwithstanding the immense wealth, the ardent enter- 
prize, and the great commercial advantages of Philadelphia, im- 
moderate quantities of East India and Chinese goods have been 
consigned for sale here, from Boston, Salem, and other eastern 
ports. 

But even, independent of the importation of the eastern for 
the southern states, the facts are unfairly stated. If the former 
actually consumed all the foreign articles they import, the duties 
they pay, compared with those paid by the southern states, will 
not warrant their holding the high, and arrogant, and insulting 
tone they have always assumed. 



2r6 



POOTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. 



[cHAJP. 5.0. 



To enable the reader to form a correct opinion on the subject, 
I annex a set of tables of the 

Net amount of the duties paid by the different states from the 
year 1791 to 1812, inclusive^ taken from the records of the trea- 
sury department^ and submitted to congress by Joseph Nourse^ 
esq, register of the treasury. 





J^Tetv Hampshire 


Vermont. Connecticut. 


R. Island- 


1791 


53,000 






206,000 


146,000 


1792 


41,000 






142,000 


46,000 


1793 


44,000 






154,000 


133,000 


1794 


38,000 


] 


1,000 


171,000 


89,000 


1795 


44,000 






155,000 


244,000 


1796 


53,000 




1,000 ■ 


141,000 


137,000 


1797 


27,000 






115,000 


276,000 


1798 


72,000 




1,000 


127,000 


104,000 


1799 


99,000 


2,000 


289,000 


260,000 


1800 


142,000 


2,000 


169,000 


393,000 


1801 


133,000 






328,000 


284,000 


1802 


119,000 






262,000 


178,000 


1803 


122,000 




1,000 


301,000 


266,000 


1804 


108,000 






348,000 


421,000 


1805 


109,009 






354,000 


349,000 


1806 


117,000 






325,000 


361,000 


1807 


99,000 






314,000 


123,000 


1808 


19,000 






197,000 


270,000 


1809 


39,000 




3,000 


129,000 


35,000 


1810 


53,000 




3,000 


157,000 


435,000 


1811 


62,000 




5,000 


240,000 


318,000 


1812 


122,000 


116,000 
147,000 


829,000 


452,000 




1,715,000 


5,453,000 


5,420,000 




Jifassachnsetts,. 


J\'eio-York. 


Pennnylvania . JMarylmul. 


Virginia. 


1791 


977,000 


1,564,000 


1,491,000 


641,000 


851,000 


1792 


678,000 


1,169,000 


1,096,000 


449,000 


474,000 


1793 


950,000 


1,195,000 


1,804,000 


869,000 


388,000 


1794 


1,004,000 


1,860,000 


1,473,000 


795,000 


389,000 


1795 


1,415,000 


2,000,000 


2,271,000 


523,000 


396,000 


1796 


1,334,000 


2,158,000 


2,012,000 


761,000' 


598,000 


1797 


1,372,000 


2,059,000 


1,743,000 


1,145,000 


606,000 


1798 


1,168,000 


l,743,OoO 


1,029,000 


885,000 


629,000 


1799 


1,607,000 


2,373,000 


1,259,000 


1,161,000 


896,000 


1800 


1,974,000 


2,741,000 


1,350,000 


623,000 


644,000 


1801 


2,929,000 


3,810,000 


2,123,000 


1,001,000 


746,000 


1802 


1,525,000 


2,490,000 


1,410,000 


634,000 


689,000 


1803 


2,490,000 


3,524,000 


1,655,000 


936,000 


713,000 


1804 


4,630,000 


3,872,000 


2,609,000 


1,538,000 


902,000 


1805 


3,308,000 


4,882,000 


2,300,000 


1,130,000 


805,000 


1806. 


3,524,000 


4,875,000 


3,017,000 


1,446,000 


620,000 


1807 


3,576,000 


4,926,000 


3,162,000 


1,633,000 


506,000 


1808 


1,184,000 


2,764,000 


1,647,000 


588,000 


110,000 


1809 


1,384,000 


2,981,000 


1,405,000 


155,000 


257,000 


1810 


2,774,000 


4,419,000 


2,539,000 


928,000 


461,000 


1811 


1,816,000 


1,979,000 


1,840,000 


722,000 


195,000 


1812 


2,719,000 


2,890,000 


2,090,000 
41,325,000 


1,782,000 


690,000 




44,338,000 


62,274,000 


20,345,000 


12,565,000 



en ST. 50] 




DUTIES ON 


IMPORTS. 




277 


J\ 


*. Carolina. 


S. Carolina. 


Georgia. 


Columbia. 


JS". Orleanif- 


1791 


§115,000 


538,000 


91,000 






1792 


78,000 


360,000 


53,000 






1793 


63,000 


359,000 


35,000 






1794 


78,000 


651,000 


87,000 






1795 


99,000 


710,000 


54,000 






1796 


68,000 


56,000 


31,000 






1797 


105,000 


700,000 


62,000 






1798 


120,000 


239,000 








1799 


154,000 


858,000 








1800 


126,000 


1,159,000 








1801 


125,000 


1,002,000 


663,000 


94,000 




1802 


252,000 


280,000 


211,000 


133,000 




1803 


159,000 


646,000 


182,000 


143,000 




1804 


186,000 


718,1 JOO 


180,000 


128,000 


279,000 


1805 


165,000 


843,000 


95,000 


119,000 


342,000 


1806 


202,000 


871,000 


183,000 


137,000 


361,000 


1807 


196,000 


735,000 


-589,000 


123,000 


480,000 


1808 


16,000 


225,000 


35,000 


20,000 


77,000 


1809 


65,000 


377,000 


6,000 


60,000 


134,000 


1810 


58,000 


567,000 


134,000 


50,000 


244,000 


1811 


44,000 


338,000 


56,000 


45,000 


148,000 


1812 


47,000 


433,000 


260,000 


80,000 


137,000 




2,621,000 


12,665,000 


2,907,000 


1,132,000 


2,202,000 



In these tables, as in those of exports, there is no account taken of any sums 
below one thousand dollars. This operates equally on botli sides, and cannot 
affect the comparison, which is the object in view. 

From the foregoing tables, the following results appear. 

I. The southern states have paid nearly as large an amount of 
duties to the government, as the eastern. 

Maryland - - - 20,345,000 

Virginia ' - - ■ 12,565,000 

North Carolina - - - 2,621,000 

South Carohn* - • - 12,665,000 

Georgia - ^ ' 2,907,000 

Columbia - - - 1,132,000 

Orleans - - - 2,202,000 

54,437,000 

Massachusetts 44,338,000 

New Hampshire - - - 1,715,000 

Vermont - - 147,000 

Connecticut - - - 5,463,000 

Rhode Island - - - 5,420,000 

■ 12,745,000 

57,083,000 

II. The single state of South Carolina paid very nearly as 
much duties as the four minor eastern states. 



South Carolina 

Four minor eastern states (see No. 1.) 



12,665,000 
12,745,000 



III. New Orleans paid twenty per cent, more in nine years, 
than New Hampshire and Vermont in twenty -txuo. 
Orleans .... 2,402,000 

New Hampshire - - 1,715,000 

Vermont - - - 147,000 

- -__ 3,862,000 

O. B. 37 



SKS- POLITICAL OLtVE BRANCH. [chaj. 50. 

IV. Virginia alone paid very nearly as much as the four mi- 
nor eastern states. 

Vir^nia - . . . . 12,565,000 

Four minor eastern stotes (see No. 1.) - - 12,745,000 

V. New York and Pennsylvania paid nearly ninety per cent, 
more than the five eastern states. 

New York - - - 62,274,000 

Pennsylvania - - - 41,325,000 

103,599,000 

rive eastern states (see No. 1.) - - - 57,083,000 

VI. South Carolina paid more than twice the amount of du- 
ties paid by either Connecticut or Rhode Island ; seven times 
as much as New Hampshire ; and ninety times as much as Ver- 
mont. 



South Carolina 


. 


• 


12,665,000 


Connecticut 


• 


- 


5,463,000 


Rhode Island 


. 


• •* 


5,420,000 


New Hampshire 


- 


- 


1,715,000 


.Vermonl 


- 


- 


147,000 


Synopsis of duties paid fro 771 1791 to 1812 i7iclusive. 


Eastern section. 


JMiddle sectio?i. 


Southern section. 


Mass. 44,338,000 


N. Jersey 259,000 


Mar}' land 


20,345,000 


N. Hamp. 1,715,000 


Delaware 1,223,000 


Virginia 


12,565,000 


Vermont 147,000 


N. York 62,274,000 


N. Carolina 


2,621,000 


Connect. 5,463,000 


Pennsylvania 41,325,000 


S. Carolina 


12,665,000 


R. Island 5,420,000 




Georg-ia 


2,907,000 






Columbia 


1,132,000 






Orleans 


2,202,000 



§57,083,000 S105,081,000 §54,437,000 

Those who consider the very expensive habits of the plaij- 
fers of Virginia and South Carolina, and the immense amount 
of foreign goods received in those states from the eastern ones, 
as well as from New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and 
how very large a proportion of the foreign merchandize import- 
ed by Massachusetts, is exported to the other states, can hardly 
doubt, that Virginia and South Carolina actually consume each 
as large an amount of dutiable articles, and of course in fact real- 
ly pay as much duties, as that state. A due consideration of 
the great number of coasters, which, in time of peace, are con- 
stantly plying from the ports of the eastern and middle to those 
of the southern states, will afford a strong support to this 
opinion. A very large proportion of the cargoes of the coasters 
bound to the southern ports consists of imported goods which 
have paid duties ; and the residue generally of articles of do- 
mestic manufacture. The return cargoes are all of raw mate- 
rials for manufactures, or articles of the highest value for 
exportation to Europe and elsewhere. It is not easy to con- 
ceive of a more advantageous commerce for the mother coun- 



PHAP. 51.} GQMIVIERCIAL VIEWS. 3^9 

tries, as, in this case, the middle and eastern states may be just- 
ly styled. I repeat it, and hope the solemn truth will be borne 
in constant remembrance, that the southern states are virtually 
colonies to those states whose demagogues have never ceased 
slandering and vilifying them. 

I dismiss this part of my subject, I hope for ever. I trust 
that the assertion of the commercial superiority of the eastern 
states, will never again be urged on this community. 

CHAPTER LI. 

Fallacy of the ophiion of any hostility in the southern^ against 
the eastern states. Commercial and agricultural states miL- 
tually dependent on^ and beneficial to each other. 

Having, I hope, completely settled the question of the com- 
parative pretensions of the different sections of the union to 
commercial pre-eminence, I proceed to consider the positions, 
which assert the necessary hostility between an agricultural sec- 
tion of a country and a commercial one — the actual existence of 
that hostility in the southern states — and its baneful influence on 
the measures of congress. 

On these fallacious positions, the changes have been rung in 
endless succession, not merely by a crowd of anonymous wri- 
ters, but even public bodies whose stations entitle them to re- 
spect, have disgraced themselves by their dissemination. The 
lucubrations on this subject, published in Boston alone, would 
fill folio volumes. Throughout the whole, confident and un- 
founded assertion is substituted in the place of fact, reason, and 
argument. 

To enable the reader to form an idea of the errors prevalent: 
on this topic, I annex a few extracts. 

" They have seeyi at first an ill-concealed, but at last an open aiid itndisgtdsed 
iealoiitti of the -ivealth and poicer of the commercial states, operatijig in CONTI- 
NUAL EFFORTS TO EMBARRASS AND DESTROY THAT COMMERCE, 
WHICH IS THEIR UFE AND SUPPORT." 

- This is the language of a report to the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts, made by a joint committee of both houses, Feb. 11, 
1814, on which was founded the most inflammatory appeal to 
the citizens of the eastern states. This report asserted the pro- 
priety, justice, and necessity of forcible resistance to the mea- 
sures of the general government, adding 

" The question is not a question of poiver or right with this legislature, but 
ditime or expediency." 

The committee proceed — 

" There exists in all parts of this commonwealth, a fear, and in many a set? 
tied belief, that the course of foreign and domestic policy pursued by the govern- 
ment of the United States, for several years past, has its foundation in a DELI- 
BERATE INTENTION TO IMPAIR, IF NOT TO DESTROY, TILVT FREE 



.:.;^1v 



"Xm 



280 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. (chAp, St. 

SPIRIT AND EXERCISE OF COMMERCE, which, aided by the habits, man- 
ners, and institutions of our ancestors, and the blessings of divine providence, 
have been the principal source of the freedom, wealth, and general prosperity 
of this recently happy and flourishing people. 

" These opinions are not confined to the maritime borders of the state, whose 
interests are more immediately affected, and whose inhabitants have daily be- 
fore their eyes perishing ships, deserted warehouses, and starving mechanics 
and labourers : but are loudly responded from the interior, where the people 
generally sjTnpathise in the present distress of their brethren on the sea-coast, 
and wisely foresee, in their ruin, their own approaching wretchedness." 

The committee continue — 

•'The memorialists see, in this deplorable descent from national greatness, 
A DETERMINATION TO HARASS AND ANNHllLATE THAT SPIRIT 
OF COMMERCE which has ever been the handmaid of civil and religious 
liberty -, and to break the free spirit of this people bi/ depriving- them of their civil 
employment, and thus forcing the sons of commerce to populate and enrich the 
wilderness, for tlie benefit of those whose avarice has contributed largely to the 
war now desolating the country." 

This is the strain and style in which this miserable, this hack- 
nied, this destrvictive prejudice has been a hundred thousand 
times repeated, without even the shadow of foundation. Al- 
though these extracts are abundandy sufficient for my purpose, 
yet I judge it not intiproper to make a short addition from the 
address of the Hartford convention. 

" Events may prove, that the causes of om- calamities are deep and perma- 
nent. They may be found to proceed, not merely from the blindness of pre- 
judice, pride of opinion, violence of party spirit, or the confusion of the times : 
but they may be traced to implacable combinations of individuals, or states, to mO' 
nopolise po~.t'ei^ and office, AND TO TRAMPLE WITHOUT REMORSE UPON 
THE RIGHTS AND INlERESTS OF THE COMMERCIAL SECTIONS OF 
THE UNION. 

" The administration, after a long perseverance in plaiis to baffie every effort of 
commercial enterprise, had fatally succeeded in their attempts, at the epoch of 
the war." 

The convention enter into an enumeration of the causes which 
have led to the public distress, and close the catalogue, with 

" Lastly and principally, a visionary and supei-ficial theory in regard to com- 
merce, ACCOMPANIED BY A REAL HATRED, BUT A FEIGNED REGARD 
TO ITS INTERESTS, and a ruinous perseverance in efforts to render it an 
instrument of coercion and war." 

Never since faction first disturbed the peace of mankind, and 
made this earth a suitable abode for demons incarnate, did she 
employ a more hollow, fallacious, or unfounded pretext, to jus- 
tify her lawless proceedings, than is here to be combated. It is 
not merely untrue. It is the reverse of truth. It has not even 
the shadow of plausibility. 

In all this wretched effort to excite the hostility of fellow citi- 
zens against each other — to prepare the inhabitants of one sec- 
tion of the country to imbrue their hands in the blood of those 
of another — to renew in this holy, this blessed land, the horrors 
f)f the French revolution — to enable American Marats, and 
Dantons, and Legendres, and Robespierres, to rule us with a 



« 



CHAP. 51. COMMERCIAL \TEWg. 281 

rod T)f iron — an all.important and overwhelming fact is -withheld 
from sight — a fact which destroys the whole of this miserable 
declamation as completely as ever the broad glare of the torch 
of truth dispelled the Cimmerian darkness of error and delusion. 
This mighty fact escaped my attention in all the former editions 
of this book. It is, that all the measures which are assumed as 
full proof of hostility to commerce, and charged to the debit of 
the southern states, have been supported by the powerful com- 
mercial states of Pemisylvania and New York ; steadily andun- 
deviatingly by the former, and by the latter with very few and 
slight exceptions. And further, that a considerable part of 
them have been supported by respectable portions of the repre- 
sentatives in congress, from New Hampshire^ Vermont, Rhode 
Island, and even Massachusetts ; for the three first states were, 
till lately, frequently represented almost wholly by democrats, 
who very generally advocated the measures herein reprobated. 
And it is further to be remarked, that the great commercial ci- 
ties of the union have been very generally represented by citi- 
zens who have given their full aid and support to the measures 
in question. Until lately, the majority for or against the admi_ 
nistration, even in Massachusetts, rarely exceeded two or three 
thousand. The election for governor in that state in 1812, was 
contested with great ardour. The friends and the enemies of 
the administration made the utmost exertions to call forth their 
whole strength — and the votes were, for 

Caleb Strong - - - 52,696 

Elbridge Gerry - - > 51,326 

And it is well known that Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Gerry, the de- 
mocratic candidates, were elected four or five times Avithin a 
space of ten years, which embraced nearly the whole of the mea- 
sures thus violently denounced. And I presume, no man of 
candour will deny, that the struggle between the different candi- 
dates, on those occasions, was as fair and unerring a criterion 
of the voice of the state on the approval or reprobation of the 
measures of the general government, as if the votes had been 
taken for president of the United States. 

Let us for a moment suppose, for sake of argument, that the 
eastern states are, as they pretend to be, exclusively commercial 
•= — and that the southern are exclusively agricultural. This is 
placing the case in the most advantageous point of light its 
friends could desire. Could there be any stronger bond of af- 
finity between two nations, or two sections of the same nation, 
than the mutual wants which this supposed case implies ? The 
agricultural portion would have imperious necessity for the 
ships, the seamen, and the capital of the commercial portion, for 
the purchase and transportation of her superfluous productions. 
And the navigation and capital of the commercial portion would 



2B2 POLITICAL OLIVE BRAKCH. [chap. 61 

find all the advantages they could require in the transportation 
and sale of the productions of the other. 

The agricultural portion, as I have already stated, would be 
merely in the situation of colonies to the commercial. What 
are the grand advantages of colonies to parent countries ? Mere- 
ly to increase their navigation — to afford an asylum for their 
superabundant population— to furnish raw materials for the em- 
ployment of their artisans and manufacturers — and to purchase 
the productions of the labours of those artisans and manufac- 
turers. 

All these favourable effects have been produced to an almost 
incalculable extent on the eastern, by their connexion and inter- 
course with the western and southern states. It therefore 
irresistibly follows, I repeat, that the latter have literally 
been but colonies to the middle, and more particularly to the 
eastern states. The hardy and enterprising Yankees pervade 
every bay, river, creek, and inlet of the southern states ; and 
for their notions carry off the solid coin of the country to replen- 
ish their coffers. They every where undersell and undermine 
the established southern storekeepers. Moreover, the cotton, 
the rice, the flour, the tobacco, and the naval stores of the 
southern states, have enabled the ship-owners of the eastern 
states to amass those over-grown nabob fortunes, which render 
them too aspiring to submit to the equal form of government 
which we enjoy. They have literally lived upon the industry 
of the southern states. Without the latter, their section of the 
union would rank very low indeed in the scale of nations. 

This state of things, so eminently advantageous to the eastern 
states, has never created faction, or complaint, or convulsions, 
or threats of dissolving the union, in the southern. They have 
cheerfully supported a government whose chief attention has 
been directed to the promotion of commerce — and which never 
did and never would have experienced any great difficulty with 
foreign nations but from the effort to protect the mercantile in- 
terests against the depredations of those nations. 

It requires little effort to prove, and little capacity to perceive, 
that there is and ever will be a commercial rivalry between Bos- 
ton and Providence — between Philadelphia and New York— 
between Baltimore and Philadelphia. But that a serious, think- 
ing people, like those of the eastern states, should have ever 
been duped to believe that there is any real cause of jealousy 
or hostility between the commercial and agricultural sections 
of the country, is a folly, of which it is hardly possible to find 
a parallel in the history of the madness and idiocy of the human 
species. 

To view the subject once more — although it really does not 
deserve further attention. Suppose, still, the southern states 



CHAP. 51.] COMMERCIAL VIEWS. 283 

wholly agricultural, and the middle and eastern wholly commer- 
cial, and that the former have an overwhelming majority in the 
legislature of the union. How could it ever enter into the mind 
of any rational being to imagine, that the majority could for a 
moment be ignorant of the plain truth, that eveiy stroke aimed 
at commerce was a stroke at their own vital interests ? 

It is well known, that the representatives of the southern and 
western states are generally gentlemen of the highest grade of 
talents in congress. From causes which it is neither necessary 
nor proper here to detail, the middle states have rarely made 
as respectable a figure in that body as could have been wished. 
The eastern have not been quite so unfortunate. It requires, 
however, but a moderate portion of candour to acknowledge^ 
that although they are occasionally represented in congress, by 
men of considerable talents, they are in the aggregate far below 
Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, &c. And could this plain 
truth escape the Eppeses, the Gileses, the Clays, and the Popes, 
that it was impossible to injure commerce without infliciirig an 
equal injury on agriculture ? 

The agricultural portion of this great nation could infinitely 
better dispense with the commercial, than the latter with the for- 
mer. Never, since commerce first began, did a nation, having 
bulky raw materials to sell, and having demands for large quan- 
tities of merchandise, find any difficulty in creating a marine, 
or, amidst naval competitors for her trade, in securing the trans- 
portation of her commodities, and the purchase of merchandise, 
on fair and advantageous terms. But the decay of Portugal, Ve- 
nice, Genoa, the Hanse Towns, and other great commercial 
states, proves, that a nation possessed of a considerable marine, 
but labouring under great natural disadvantages, may ,'if it affront 
or offend the nations on which it depends, be reduced to its na- 
tive and intrinsic insignificance. 

The disadvantages of the eastern states are ver^^ considera- 
ble. The sterility of the soil will leave them eternally depen- 
dent upon the southern states ; for their situation imperiously 
forces them to have recourse to manufactures and commerce. 
Their agriculture must always be comparatively insignificant. 
They therefore, I repeat, owe their greatness principally to their 
immensely valuable trade with those states, which their un- 
grateful writers and demagogues are constantly vilifying and 
abusing, and which afford the principal pabulum for the com- 
merce of the middle and eastern states. Those demagogues 
are, as I have stated, unceasingly exciting animosities between 
the two sections of the union, by pretending a rivalry of interest, 
which is wholly unfounded. There is, let me repeat, real cause 
of jealousy between Rhode Island and Massachusetts : but 
none between either of them and Virginia or South Carolina. 
The latter are, and wiU forever continue, great agricultural 



284 POl-ITICAL OLIVE BRANCH [chap. Si. 

states. Their immense and increasing productions "will find the 
most valuable employment for the shipping and for the manu- 
factures of the eastern and middle states. 

Should a separation take place, which I hope and trust in the 
goodness of Heaven is far remote, the eastern states will repent 
it first and last. They will have reason eternally to detest the 
unhallowed councils of those restless demagogues, who shall 
have plunged them into the abyss of ruin. Their hardy sons, 
who now migrate to the southward and westward by hundreds, 
will abandon their native soil by thousands — and daily add 
strength to the rival section of the nation, and equally enfeeble 
the parent states. The latter will dwindle into the insignificance 
from which they have been elevated by the tribute they have 
jlevied upon Virginia and her southern sisters. 

The horrors of an immediate civil war, and of a constant bor- 
der war, such as formerly existed betxveen England and Scotland^ 
are the only considerations that render a separation from Mas- 
sachusetts a measure to be at all deprecated. Were we insured 
from these two evils, a separation would be an advantage to the 
rest of the union ; for she has harassed the national councils to a 
most intolerable and shameful degree. 

She has appeared determined, ffshe could not rule the countrtj 
herself^ to send it to destruction headlong. She has been for 
years the source of most of the difficulties of the union. We 
should not have had vt^ar but for her.* And among the fea- 
tures of the present crisis, the most lamentable one is, that she 
cannot suffer the consequences of her folly, her arrogance, her 
restlessness, her faction, her jacobinism, her anti-Washington- 
ism, without inflicting an equal degree of misfortune on her 
innocent neighbours. Could she suffer alone, it were " a con- 
summation most devoutly to be wished.''^ A strong navigation 
act, and discriminating duties, would soon bring her to her 
senses, and convince her of the immeasurable folly and madness 
she has been guilty of. They would sink her to her proper 
level — that level, which her ungrateful soil — her insignificance 
in point of population — and the narrow limits of her territory, 
prescribe — and which, I repeat, nothing but the advantages she 
has derived from her persecuted, insulted, outraged, and de- 
famed sister states, could have enabled her to pass. She would 
repent of her infatuation, and most anxiously seek to be restored 
to a confederacy, on the major part of which she had unceasing- 
ly levied heavy contributions, and to which she owed all that 

* This assertion has been cavilled at by a Boston writer, but not refuted. 
Boston, by her Jacobinical and seditious opposition to the peaceable measures 
adopted to obtain from England that redress for which she herself had so loud- 
ly insisted on the interference of g'overnment ; and by her excitement of a si- 
milar opposition throughout the eastern states generally, defeated those mea- 
sures, and cncoiu-agcd England to proceed ill her outrages ; vvliich finally led 
to war. 



CHAP. 52.] ATTEMPTS ON PUBLIC CREDIT. 2S5 

prosperity, that wealth, and that consequence, which had ren- 
dered her dizzy, inflated her with pride and arrogance, and 
brought on her downfall. 

CHAPTER LII. 

3Ioney the sinews of zvar. Associations to prevent the success 
of the Loans» Efforts to bankrupt the Govermnent. 

Money has long been proverbially styled the sinews of war. 
It is no misnomer. Soldiers cannot be raised — nor put in mo- 
tion — nor arrayed in the field of battle, without money to clothe 
and feed them. A government at war, and destitute of funds 
or credit, must succumb to its adversary — bend the neck to the 
yoke — make humble submission — .and receive the law from the 
conqueror. To these truths history bears ample and uniform 
testimony. 

Under these impressions, shortly after the declaration of war, 
there was a combination formed to prevent the success of the 
government loans. A great majority of those who entered 
into this scheme resided in the eastern states, particularly in 
Boston, which was the grand focus of the conspiracy. 

For every measure, however atrocious, a plausible plea is 
always found to palliate or justify its enormity. This high- 
handed conspiracy to destroy the credit of the government of 
their country, which originated among the " moral and reli- 
gious people" of Boston, was predicated upon two positions : 

First, that England was, and had always been, willing tq 
make a treaty with us on fair and honourable terms ; and that, 
so great was her magnanimity, she would take no advantage of 
any embarrassments or difficulties which might arise from the 
destruction of the public credit. 

Secondly, that our administration was so obstinately deter- 
mined to continue the war, that it would make no peace while 
possessed of the means of carrying on hostilities. 

A corollary from these positions was, that if the conspirators 
prevented the success of the loans, and deprived the government 
of the means of prosecuting the war, we should in consequence 
have peace.* 

These extravagant positions must excite the amazement of 
any calm observer. " But as soon as he should be acquainted 

* This paragraph was written in September, 1814. The result of the nego- 
clatious at Ghent fully established the folly as well as wickedness of these 
proceedings. The public mind has been since very considerably undeceived 
on these points. I have heard gentlemen rejoice at the succes^ of the illus- 
trious hero, Jackson, at New-Orleans, as leading to peace, who, one or two 
years since, were so miserably deluded as to believe that the road to a cessa- 
tion of war lay through the defeat, disgrace, and disasters of the arms of thei> 
native country ! 

O, B. 38 



28^ POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 52. 

" with the nature and existence of prejudice, passion, obstinacy, 
" wilfuhiess, wickedness, and, above all, with the character and 
" influence of party spii'it, the mystery would vanish at once : 
*■'• for he would then see that these, and not reason, decide, 
" /Reason asks for facts and arguments. Prejudice^ passion^ 
" and the rest^ ask for 7iames^ sound, noisc^ and fur ij. By 
*' those they are impelled — by these they decide.''''^ 

Our government had given four strong and irresistible proofs 
of a disposition to conclude the war, which carried conviction to 
every candid mind. 

First, on the 27th of June, 1812, it had offered the British 
government an armistice on the simple and reasonable condi- 
tions of suspending, during the negociation, the outrageous in- 
jury of impressment, and surrendering the American seamen 
previously impressed. The suspension of impressment at that 
period could not have occasioned Great Britain any possible dis- 
advantage ; for, having nearly annihilated all the rival navies 
of Europe, her stock of sailors could not require to be reple- 
nished by impressment from our vessels. And, as she had at 
all times professed a willingness to surrender our seamen, there 
could have been no difficulty on the second point. She ought, 
therefore, to have met our amicable overtures with frankness. 
If she were fighting for her existence, as has been said a 
thousand times ; and if it were jeopardized by our hostility ; 
it was the quintessence of madness and folly, not to have with- 
drawn us from the number of her enemies, when she could have 
effected that grand object on such easy terms, without impair- 
ing her credit or character. 

Secondly, It had promptly accepted the Russian mediation 
for the termination of hostilities. 

Thirdly, To remove all difficulty on the important subject of 
impressment, congress passed an acton the od of March, 1813, 
making such provisions, to commence from the close of the war, 
as to secure Great Britain against the seduction or employment 
of her seamen on board our vessels, public or private.f 

Fourthly, and most particularly, in the appointment of three 
ministers to negociate, Mr. Bayard, a decided federalist, was 
chosen — -a gentleman of high standing with his own party — of 
considerable talents — and strenuously opposed to the adminis. 
tration. This affords a full proof of the fairness and candour of 
our government. 

In the appointment of ministers in England, or elsewhere, I 
believe no similar instance has occurred, of the choice of a per- 

* Tlie Kxaminer, by Rarent Qardenier, vol. i. p. 57 , 

\ Among the nienibers who voted as^ainst this bill were Messrs. Josiah Quin- 
cy and Jolni Randolph. Their motives must have been very extraordinaiy. 
It is hardly possible to fothom them. 



CHAP. 52.] AlTEMPTS ON PUBLIC CREDIT. 287 

Son hostile to the administration who appointed him. It was a 
very great tflbrt to remove suspicion and jealousy from the 
public mind: Nothing but the incurable folly and madness en- 
gendered by faction, could possibly resist the fair inicrence war- 
ranted by this appointment. But it was wholly unavailing. 
Faction is now, ever has been, and ever will be, deaf, and dumb, 
and blind, to reason and common sense. 

These four facts notwithstanding, the persuasion was general 
among the " Peace Fartij^'' that the government was averse to 
terminating the war. The talents of the federalists in the east- 
ern states and elsewhere, w^ere put in requisition to impress this 
idea on the public mind. The most unceasing efforts were em- 
ployed on this subject. The leaders of the party affected to be, 
and the others were, inflexible in the opinion. 

In consequence, every possible exertion was made, particular- 
ly in Boston, to deter the citizens from subscribing to the loans, 
in order to disable the government from carrying cm the war, 
and of course to compel it to make peace. Associations were 
entered into in the most solemn and public manner for this pur- 
pose. And those who could not be induced by mild means, were 
deterred by denunciations. A folio volume might be filled with 
the lucubrations that appeared on this subject. 

The pulpit, as usual in Boston, afforded its utmost aid to the 
press, to insure success. Those who subscribed, were in direct 
terms declared participators in, and accessaries to, all the " mur" 
ders^'' as they were termed, that might take place in the '' unhQ- 
hj^ unrighteous^ wicked^ abominable^ and accursed war /"* 

To enable us to judge of the wickedness and folly of these 
proceedings, let us examine what v/ould have been the conse- 
quence of complete success. No diminution of the guilt of any 
act arises from its failure to produce its usual and intended ef- 
fect. — The man who fires a pistol with intent to kill, is, in the 
eye of Heaven, as clearly a murderer, as he whose ball passes 
through the brains of his victim. 

Had complete success crowned the efforts of the conspirators, 
these awful consequences would have taken place : 

First, a national bankruptcy.! The public creditors, and those 
who depended on them, would have been ruined. 

* See chapter LVI. 

t After the above was written, this consequence was procluced to a ceftam 
extent by this consph-acy. Its injurious effects on the credit of the country 
may be seen by an examination of tlie following Boston Fnce current, extracted 

From tlie United States Gazette, Febimai ij 7, 1815. 

BELOW PAR. 

All the banks In New York state, Hudson and Orange excepted, 19 and 20 p. c. 

Hudson bank, - - - " |^ 

Orange bank, - " - " oa 

Philadelphia city banks, . - -.- - M 

Baltimore banks, * - . - " OA 9« 

Treasury notes, - - - - * m 

United States six oer cents. - " - ' m 



288 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 52. 

Secondly, with the downfall of the public stocks, would have 
fallen the stocks of banks, insurance-companies,* Jkc. 

Thirdly, private bankruptcy would have follow ed to an en- 
ormous extent : and wide-spread ruin would have pervaded the 
nation-! 

Fourthly, the national armies must have been disbanded, and 
the frontiers exposed to the desolating effects of the hatchet and 
tomahawk. The aged matron — the chaste and tender wife — • 
the blooming maiden — the decrepid grandsire — the manly father 
■ — and the helpless infant — all would have been involved in one 
wide, impartial, and undistinguishing destruction ! 

Fifthly, our seaport towns would have been exposed to the 
mercy of Pakenhams, and Cockburns, and Gordons. They 
would have been bcaut\ed-and-hootied^ and have shared the fate 
of Alexandria, of Hampton, of Havre-de-Grace, and French- 
town. 

And sixthly, to close the awful catalogue, our government 
would have been laid at the mercy of Great Britain : — and, de- 
prived of the means of resistance, must have submitted to what- 
ever ignominious terms she might choose to impose.:): 

These were the results that must have taken place, had com- 
plete success crowned the horrible project. Never was more 
unholy purpose attempted. 

It is highly probable that many of the persons engaged in this 
conspiracy did not contemplate such extensive results. They 
may have looked no farther forward than to the restoration of 
peace. But the leaders in the scheme were too keen, too shrewd, 
too profound, and too hostile to the government of their coun- 
try, to allow vis to extend to them the same degree of charity. 
Their minds must have grasped all the stupendous and awful 
consequences ; and they had reconciled themselves to the wide- 
spread devastation. 

The success in the eastern states was considerable. Few men 
have the courage to stem the tide of popular delusion when it 
sets in very strong. There were some, however, who subscrib- 
ed openly, in defiance of denunciations and threats. Others of 
less firm texture, loaned their money by stealth, and as clandes- 
tinely as if it were treasonable. What, alas ! must be the aw- 
ful state of society, when a free citizen is afraid of lending his 
money publicly, to support the government that protects him — 
the mildest government ever vouchsafed by Heaven to man — 

* This consequence took place to a most alurming- degree. See the prece- 
ding note. 

-j- Strong traces of the pernicious effects of this conspiracy appear through- 
out the union. Some of the conspu-ators fell unlamcnted victims of their own 
machinations. 

% The recent subjugation of France holds out a most solemn and horror- 
inspiring lesson, on the effects of intenuil divisions. 



CHAP. 52.] ATTEIMPTS ON PUBLIC CREDIT. 289 

whose mildness enabled its enemies to jeopardize its very exist- 
ence ! Who, that has a soul to feel — who, that has a spark of 
patriotism or public spirit in his frame, but must be fired with a 
holy indignation at such a hideous, such a horrible state of 
the public piind !!!!!! 

" Money is such a drug (the surest sign of the former prosperity, and pvesmt 
insecurity of trade) that men against their consciences, their honour, their 
duty, their professions and PROMISES; are willing to lend it secretly; to 
support the very measures which are both intended and calculated for their 
ruin." 

This paragraph, the prodiiction of John Lowell, establishes 
the existence of a combination to prevent the success of the 
loans, who had '■'■ promhed'''' each other, or pledged themselves 
not to subscribe — but, to avoid the reproaches and persecution 
of their associates, did it " secretly.'''' This conclusion irresis™ 
tibly follows. These '-*■ promises not to lend their money ^'^ 
must refer to the combination I have stated. It can have no 
other meaning. And the fair construction of their lending 
" secretly'''' can be no other than that they were liable to dis- 
grace with, or persecution from, their party, if they were known 
to lend. 

Of the species of denunciations held out to deter from sub- 
scriptions, some idea may be formed from the following para- 
graphs, taken from various Boston papers. 

" Let no mmi ~vho ivishes to continve the Tvar by active means, by vote or lendimr 
money, dare to phostrate himself at the altar ox the fast day ; for they 
are actually as imtch partakers in the -ivar, as the soldier ivlio thrusts his bavonet • 
and the JUDGMENT OF GOD WILL AWAIT THEM." 

Jifoney lent by federalists. 

" Will federalists subscribe to the loan"? will they lend money to our nation- 
al rulers ? it is impossible. First, because of the principle ; and secondly, be- 
cause of principal and interest. If they lend money now, they make themselves 
parties to the violation of the constitution, the cruelly oppressive measures in 
relation to commerce, and to all the crimes which have occuired in the field 
and in the cabinet. To what purpose have federalists exerted themselves to 
show the wickedness of this war, to rouse ihe public sentiment against it, 
and to show the authors of it not only to be unworthy of public confidence,' 
but highly criminal, if now they contribute the sums of money, without which) 
these rulers must be compelled to stop,- must be compelled to return to the policy 
and measures under which this country once was at peace, and in singular 
pi-osperity. 

" By the magnanimous course pointed out by governor Strong, that is, by 
withholding all voluntary aid in prcsecuting the war, and manfully expressing 
our opinion as to its injustice and ruinous tendency, we have arrested its pro- 
gress ; and driven back its authors to abandon their iiefarious schemes, and to look 
anxiously for peace. What then, if we now lend them money ? They will not 
make peace ; they will still hanker for Canada ; they will still assemble forces, 
and shed blood on our western frontier. Mere pride, if nothing else, would 
make them do it. The motives which first brought on the war, will still con- 
tinue it, if money can be had. But some say ; -mU you let the country become 
bankrupt ! no, the country tvill never become bayikrupt. But prat no not pre- 
vent THE ABUSERS OF THEIR BECOMING BANKRUPT ! ! !* Do UOt preVCnt thciU 

* Language is powerless to express the contempt and disgust this miserable 
sophistry must excite in every coiTcct mind. What a desperate plunge into 



290 POLITICAL OLIVE BnAXCJI [mAv. 52. 

from becoming odious to the public, and replaced by better men. Ani/ 
Jddfralisl who lends moneij to goi'tiiimcnt, must go ami shake, hands luith James 
^Madison, and claim fellowshii) with Felix Grundy. Let him no mure cult him- 
self federalist and friend to his cmtntry ! I ! HE AVILL 13E CALLED liY 
OTHER.S, INFAMOUS !!!!!! 

" But, secondly, federalists will not lend money, because tliey luill never get it 
again. How, where, and when, are tlie government to get money to pay inte- • 
rest ? And ivho can tell whet/ier J'lUtire rulers maij think the debt contracted under 
such circumstances, and hif men who lend money to help out measures which they 
have loudly and constantly condemned, ought to be paid ! On tl\e whole, then, 
tiiere are two veiy strong reasons why federalists will not lend money ; first, 
because it would be a base abandonment of political and moral principles ,• and 
secondly, because it is pretty certain tliey wiU never be paid again." Boston 
Gazette", April 14, 1814. 

" Our mercliants constitute an honourable, high-minded, independent, and 
intelligent class of citizens. They feel tiie oppression, injury, and mockery, 
with winch tiiey are treated by tlieir government. They will lend tiiem money 
to retrace tlieir steps ; but none to persevere in their present course. Let every 
highwayuuinfnd his own pistols ! ! .' .'" Boston Gazette. 

" We liave only room tliis evening to say tliat we trust no true friend to his 
country will be found among the subscribers to the Gallatin loan." New York Eve- 
ning I'ost. 

" No peace will ever be made, till the people say there shall be no war. If 
the rich men continue to furnisli money, war will continue till the mountains arc 
"melted with blood ; till every field in America is white with the bones of the peo- 
ple." Discourse delivered at Byiicld, the seventh of April, 1814. By Elijah 
Parish, D. D. 

" If this war is to be supported by loans, paper stock will breed as fast and 
fiister than merinos. The fleeces, if your pastures are good, will yield the in- 
terest ; but for your intei-est of paper stock, you must yield a fleece of loans 
annually from your own pockets. Fhe admiral and the purser have informed 
the crew, that they have but few shot in the locker ; they must be replenished, 
or the war laurels must wither. In our old war, when private men were public 
creditors, and became somewhat impatient of pubhc delay, the administration 
would promise them one new dollar for two hundred old ones, and try tiieir pa- 
tience again. JMy brother farmers, if you have money to let, let it lie. If the war 
continues, you will purchase your stock at four years old, cheaper than you can. 
raise it ; so unjust is tliis offensive war, in which our rulers have plunged us, 
in the sober consideration of millions, that they cannot conscientiously approach 
the God of armies for Ins blessing upon it." Boston Centinel, Jaimary 13, 1813. 

" It is verv grateful to find that the universal sentiment is, that ANY MAN 
WHOLENi5s HIS MONEY TO THE GOVERNMENT, AT THE PRESENT 
TLME, WILL FORFEIT ALL CLAIM TO COMMON HONESTY AND COM- 
MON COURTESY AMONG ALL TRUE FIUENDS TO l HE COUN FRY ! ! ! ! 
God forbid that any federalist should ever hold up his hand to pay federalists 
for money lent to the present riders ; and federalists can judge whether demo- 
crats will tax their constituents to pay interest to federaUsts." Boston Gazette, 
April 14, 1814. 

At these awful monuments of the horrible effects of that direst 
of human ills, remorseless faction, it is impossible to avoid 
heaving a deep and heartfelt sigh ! Everj' effort is employed to 
prevent a peaceful nation, goaded to war by a succession of out- 
rage, injustice, and depredation of the most flagitious, aggrava- 
ting^ and humiliating kind, from availing herself of her re- 

the bathos of politicaj error and folly a writer must make, to assert — and \\o\v 
deplorably stupid and deluded must his readers be, to believe — that a govern- 
ment can be a banki-upt, and the nation not pai-t<ikc in the bankruptcy 1 



ea-AP. 52.] ATTEMPTS ON PUBLIC CREDIT 291 

sources to defend herself from an infuriate foe ! Those who 
aid the government which protects them from the ravages of 
that foe, are declared to be " INFAMjOUS," and to have 
" FORFEITED ALL CLAIM TO COMMON HONES- 
TY !" Tell it not in Gath — publish it not in Askalon ! 

The following advertisements contain volumes. They evince, 
beyond the power of doubt or denial, the frightful state to 
which a few factious, violent men, by their treasonable practices, 
had reduced the. town of Boston, when those who were disposed 
to support their own government, were obliged to do it as clan- 
destinely as if they were engaged in some dangerous conspiracy. / 

From tfie Boston Chronicle, Jpril 14, 1S14. 
The new loan. 

" From the advice of several respected friends, we are induced to announce 
to the public, that subscriptions to the new loan will be received by us as agents 
until the twenty -fifth instant from individuals, or incoqiorated bodies, in sums 
of five hundred dollars and upwards. The subsci'iptions to conform to the re- 
gulations announced by tlie secretary of the treasury, dated the fourth of April. 
Payments juay be made in Boston money, or in any other of tlic United States, 
the subscribers paying the customary rate of discount. Applications will be re- 
ceived from any persons who wish to receive their interest in Boston, by letters 
post paid, or lay written applications from individuals in Boston : AND THE 
NAMES OF aLL SUBSCRIBERS SHALL BE KNOWN ONLY TO THE 
UNDERSIGNED. According to the proposals of the secretary of the treasury 
(for more particulars see his advertisement) each applicant must name the 
highest rate he will give : and if the loan is granted lower than his proposal, it 
will of course be for his benefit ; but on the other hand, if higher, he will lose 
the benefit of being a subscriber. The certificates, and all tlie business rela- 
ting to it, will be delivered free of charge. 

GILBERT & DEAN, Brokers. 

" Exchange Coffee House, Boston, April 12." 

From the Boston Gazette, April 14, 1814. 
THE LOAN. 

" Subscriptions will be received through the agency of the subscriber till the 
twenty -fifth instant inclusive. 

" To avoid tlie inconveniencies of personal appearance to siibr.cribe, applications 
in writing will be received from any part of the state. Each applicant miU 
name the highest rate he will give, and if the loan shall be granted lower than 
his proposal, he shall reap the benefit: but if higher than his oflTer, he will 
Iiave no share in it. The amount, rate, and NAME OF .\NY APPLIC.\NT 
SHALL, AT HIS REQUEST, BE KNOWN ONLY TO THE SURSCRIBER. 
All the business shall be transacted, and certificates delivered to the subscribers 
witJiout expense." _ JESSE PUTNAM. 

On the above advertisements, and others of a similar charac. 
ter, the following comments were published in the Boston Ga- 
zette : — 

" JTo^v degraded must our government be, even in their own eyes, tvhen theii re- 
sort to such tricks to obtain moneij, ivhich a common Jew broker would be ashamed 
of! They must be well acquainte I with the fabric of the men who are to 
loan them money, when they offer, that if they will have the goodness to do it, 
their names shall not be exposed to tlie world. They know right well, that the 
cause is so sneaking and vile, that nobody would be seen in the broad day light to 
lend them money. However, it is consistent with the system _of deception and 
double dealing which they have always practised. 



292 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. t<^HAP. au. 

" Capitalists may be induced to subscribe to the loan, because it will tend to 
sfiorten the luur. But what pledge have they, when they have poured all their 
cash into the lap of government, that the war will end ? 

" No one doubts of their rancour and ill-will towards England ; that they 
are willing to light her as long as they can get money. Well then, if they can 
s^ull the rich men, and get as many loans as they ask for, ivill they not Jight till 
tluU is gone ? yea, and until they can negociate new loans upon the same terms ? 

"Perliaps monied men may be bribed by the high interest that is offered. 
Stit if they tvithhold their aid, and so force the governmeiit into a peace, will not 
their capital be better employed, if engaged in trade } will they not have bet- 
ter security for its payment, and at their command wlien they ask for it ? 

" On tlie vvliole, we think it no way to get out of the war, to give monetj to the 
gwernment, when the very thing that prevents them from carrying it on, is the 
■want vf money." Boston Gazette, April 14, 1814. 

After having intimidated the citizens from lending their 
money publicly, by the most inflammatory, seditious, and threat- 
ening publications, of which the preceding extracts afford a slight 
specimen, these writers revile and abuse the government, be- 
cause those ivho xv'ish to lend^ are invited hij the brokers to do it 
secretly ! what transcendent wickedness and injustice ! 

Numberless similar paragraphs and essays were written 
with a view to dissuade and intimidate monied men from sub- 
scribing to the loans. Canting hypocrites, who were violating 
the fundamental laws of society, encouraging " smuggling," 
and " perjury," — " acquiring ill-gotten wealth at the expense of 
public morals" — and endeavouring, though a small minority, to 
trample down the majority, had the wickedness to invoke " the 
judgment of God^^ upon the supporters of a lawful and mild 
government ! 

In the middle states, the federalists did not enter into the 
project, or to a very limited extent. Many of them were sub- 
scribers — some on a very liberal scale. And thus the loans, in 
spite of the press, and the pulpit, and the efforts of the conspi- 
rators, succeeded, to their infinite mortification. New means 
were brought into operation, which were temporarily crowned 
with fatal success. 

CHAPTER LIII. 

Smuggling' carried to a great excess in Boston. Specie abundant 
there. Oppressive drafts on New York. Arrangements be- 
tween persons in Canada and in Boston. 

How strong soever may be the general sense of the infamy 
of smuggling, it has always prevailed ; and never will be whol- 
ly suppressed, while it affords such great advantages, and 
while there are men to be found who worship gain as their God. 
It is not therefore surprising, that the non. importation, the em- 
bargo, &c. having been denounced as oppressive, unjust, and 
unconstitutional — and the war as wicked, unprovoked, and cor- 
rupt, smuggling should be carried on to a most prodigious ex- 
tent, especially as the public papers in Boston repeatedly in 



s 



uHAP.ool ATTEIVIPTS ON PUBLIC CREDIT. 293 

vited and urged the citizens to set the restrictive system at de- 
fiance. These circumstances conspired to supply that town with 
smuggled goods on a very large scale. 

Of the extent to which smuggling, and fraud, and perjury 
have been carried in Boston, some idea may be formed from 
the following " precious confession," written by John Lowell. 
It describes a depraved state of society not exceeded in the most 
corrupt countries in Europe. 

" Encotiraged and protected from infamy by the just odium agamst the luar, 
they engage in laivless speculations ; sneer at the restrai^its of conscience ,• langh 
at perjury ,- mock at legal resti^aints ,• a7id acquire an ill-gotten ivealth at the ex- 
pense of public morals, and of the more sober, conscientious part of the communi' 
ty."*i 

It was worthy of the most serious reflection of the honourable 
and public-spirited federalists of the middle and southern states^ 
how far they could, without disgrace and dishonour, '■'• folloxv 
the leacf' of a town where such a state of things existed — where 
'' perjury" was a subject of " laughter" — where '''' public tnorals''^ 
were sacrificed to the acquisition of '' ill-gotten xvealtli''' — and 
where " the restraints oj conscience rvere sneered at.'''' — What 
an awful consideration it is, that such a description of citizens 
should have had it in their power materially to affect the desti- 
nies of eight millions of people and their posterit)^ ! for it is a 
most frightful truth, that all the violent, lawless, Jacobinical, 
and wicked measures, which nearly drove the country to per- 
dition, had their origin in Boston, where " perjury and smug- 
gling" were the roads to fortune- — and vi/here '*• conscience af- 
forded no restraint."|. 

Mr. Lowell, after drawing this frightful picture, endeavours 
to make the administration answerable for the whole, to " a just 

* Road to Ruin, No. 6. 

f Mr. Lowell denies that the above portrait was drawn for Boston. He says 
" the remarks were intended to apply to other states than Massachusetts ;" but 
he does not specify which are the states. I have reconsidered the subject, and 
am not disposed to admit his defence. The depravation of morals, he describe 
ed, was, he says, the result of " sm?/^;§fo>!j^.-" and this was protected from in., 
fiimy by "the just odium against the war." Now it is well known that there 
was no part of the United States where smuggling' was carried on so largely 
and so barefacedly as in Boston ; and none wliere so much pains were taken to 
excite the public passions against the war, or with so much success. It is there- 
fore not in iVIr. Lowell's power to remove the fairness of the application. 

tl wish here to avoid being misunderstood. The statement respecting Bos» 
ton is to be received with due qualifications. I have numerous and most esti- 
mable acquaintances in Boston; equal in point of honour and integrity to any 
citizens in the United States. And such I consider the mass of the inhabitants., 
But in times of factious violence, the worst men always rise uppermost ; gain 
the ascendency; give the tone to public measures; and establish an arbitrary 
sway. And men who " laugh at perjury," and " sneer at the restraints of 
conscience," are precisely those who in such times of frenzy tn-annise over 
their fellow-citizens, aiid bear down or force with them the dispassionate and^ 
well-intentioned. At all events, the picture of Boston is not mine. If it be in- 
correct, I am not answerable. Let Mi% LoweU and liis friends settle the account 
between them, 

O. B. 39 



29^ POLITICAL OLHE BRANCH. [chap. 53. 

God," who " knows horv to trace the causes' of human events.''^ 
This is most sorry and contemptible canting. It can deceive no 
man beyond the rank of an idiot. This hideous derangement 
of morals was solely the production of faction, which consecrates 
every means, however wicked, to answer its vile purposes. 

" Adininistnition hlreling'slVnay revile the northern statesi, and the merchants 
g-ent'rally, for this monstrous depravation of moi'als, tins oxecraljle course of 
smugg'ling and fraud. But tliere is a just God, udu) knows liow to trace the 
causes of iiuman events; and he will assurccUy visit upon the authors of this 
war, all the iniquities of which it has heen the occasion. If the guilty deserve 
oui* scorn or our pity, the tcmptei-s iind scaucers deserve our execration."* 

It is very just and true, that the guilty deserve our scorn, and 
that the seducers merit execation. But who, let me ask, were the 
seducers i those, indubitably, who for so many years had been 
employed, by every means, however base and vile, in exciting 
the people to forcible opposition to the rulers of their choice — 
who had, in the public papers, openly invited those, who needed 
no such invitation, to violate laws fairly and constitutionally en- 
acted, which they denounced as oppressive and " nnconstitiitiofi- 
aW These were " the seducers.'''' These were the men on 
whom heaven in its righteous decrees, must '•'• visit all the ini- 
^uities^^'' to which their ambition, their turbulence, and their fac- 
tious spirit had given occasion. 

Many valuable British prizes were sent into Boston, which 
greatly added to the stock of goods introduced there by smug- 
gling. The middle and southern states, vt^hich refrained from 
this pestiferous practice, derived nearly all their supplies of fo- 
reign merchandise from that town. This course of events filled 
the vaults of the banks in Boston with incomparably more specie 
than they ever held before — and raised very heavy balances 
against the banks in New York. The Philadelphia banks were 
indebted to New York ; those in Baltimore to Philadelphia; and 
so on to the southward. 

It may not be unamusing to the reader to explain this process 
a little more in detail. New York purchased goods largely in 
Boston, partly for bank notes and partly on credit. For the 
latter portion, promissory notes were given, which were trans- 
mitted from Boston to the New York banks for collection. Very 
large purchases were likewise made in Boston by citizens of 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Petersburg, &c. Payments 
were made in bank notes of the middle and southern states, and 
in promissorv notes. Both were sent on to New York ; the 
first for transmission to the banks whence they were issued — - 
and the second for collection. 

This state of things suggested the detestable idea, at which 
the reader will stand aghast, of wielding the financial advaiv 

■ Ro^d to Ruin, No. 6. 



CHAP. 53.] ATTEMPTS ON PUBLIC CREDIT. 295 

tages then enjoyed in Boston, to produce the effect which the 
press and pulpit had failed to accomplish — that is, to stof) the 
wheels of government bij draining the banks hi the middle and 
southern states of their specie^ and thus producing an utter disa- 
bility to fill the loans ! 1 1 This scheme was projected in the 
winter of 1813-14, — and immediate arrangements were made to 
carry it into execution. It richly earned for the projectors the 
maledictions of the widows, and orphans, and other persons on 
M'hom it entailed so much distress and ruin. 

Accordingly, the New York, Philadelphia, and southern bank 
notes held by the Boston banks, were transmitted with demands 
for their amount in specie — and drafts were likewise drawn on 
the New York banks for the balances on the lace of the books, 
to enormous amounts. I am credibly informed that the sum 
thus drawn was seven or eight millions* of dollars from the 
time of commencing these operations till the 31st of August, 
1814, when specie payments were suspended — a space of about 
eight months. To relieve themselves from this pressure, the 
New York banks drew as largely as the state of the accounts 
would admit, on those in Philadelphia — the latter on those in 
Baltimore — and those in the latter city on Washington, Alex- 
andria, Richmond, &c. 

A fearful alarm spread through the community. The issue 
was looked for with terror. Wagons were loading with specie 
at the doors of our banks almost every 'vveek. There have been 
three at one time loading in Philadelphia. The banks through- 
out the middle and southern states were obliged to curtail their 
discounts. Bankruptcies took place to a considerable extent. — 
Even wealthy men, who were wholly unprepared for such a 
crisis, suffered great inconvenience. Some M'ho had subscribed 
to the loans, were unable to comply with their engagements : and 
0thers were withheld from subscribing, by tlie genei-al pressure 
for money. In consequence, the loan, then pending, partially 
failed, to the very great embarrassment of the government and 
distress of the public. This runs the nefarious object in view. 

I have before me "■ A true abstract of the statements of the 
several bank corporations of Massachusetts, rendered January, 
1814," and published by the secretaiy of that commonwealth, 
from which I extract the amount of specie in their vaults, and of 
their notes in circulation. 

» Wlien I wrote this passag-e, I gTeatly vinclerrated the nmount thus with- 
drawn from the middle and southern states, w liich 1 estimated at only fom- 
millions of dollars. Subsequent inquiries have satisfied me that it was probably 
double that amount. The banks from New York to Norfolk inclusively, as 
well as most of those to the westward, were literally drained of then- specie, 
and nearly reduced to bankruptc^'. Two millions of dollars and more, have 
frequently been exported from Philadelphia alone for the East Indies m mvt 
season, without prodvicing uny sensible etfeet-, 



295 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 53, 

Jan. 1814. Specie. Notes hi circulation'' 

Massachusetts Bank, ^2,114,1 64 S682,708 

Union, 657,795 233,225 

Boston, 1,182,572 369,903 

State, 659,066 509,000 

New England, 284,456 161,170 

Mechanics, 47,391 44,595 

4,945,444 2,000,601 



Of course there could not be the least pretext of want of spe- 
cie, to answer the utmost demand that could be reasonably cal- 
culated on. They possessed, for every hundred dollars of their 
notes in circulation, nearly 250 dollars in specie — a state .of 
things probably unparalleled in the history of banking, from the 
davs of the Lombards to the present time, 

'No man can pretend, that with the above enormous amount of 
specie, and the moderate amount of notes in circulation, these 
banks would have deemed it either advisable or necessary te 
make such very unusual and immoderate drafts, particularly at 
the season of the year when this project was commenced, unless 
there was some extraordinary object to be accomplished. 

Notwithstanding the enormous sums of specie drawn into the 
town of Boston, from New York, Philadelphia, &c. so great was 
the drain to Canada and Nova Scotia, to pay for government 
bills and for smuggled goods, that but a very moderate sum re- 
mained in the banks there at the beginning of the year 1815. — 
I annex a statement of the amount in the vaults of the different 
banks, at two periods, subsequent to the preceding date, fi'om 
which an idea may be formed of the pernicious extent to which 
these proceedings were carried. 

July Ut, ISU. ya7i.lst,18l5. 

Massachusetts Bank, gl, 959,405 S763,682 

Union, 639,789 202,786 

Boston, 1,270,731 691,729 

State, 1,114,421 88,339 

New England, 484,258 252,832 

S5,468,604 Si, 999,368 



Thus, it appears, that in six months the amount of specie ha^ 
been reduced the enormous sum of nearly three millions and a 
half of dollars, notwithstanding the continual supplies from Nev»' 
York for tlie months of July and August. 

Attempts have been made to justify the extravagant drafts 
above stated, as merely the result of the balance of trade in fa- 
\-or of Boston. It has been asserted that it was no more than 
right and proper for the banks of that town to require the balan- 



qHAP. 53.] ATTEMPTS ON PUBLIC CREDIT; 297 

ces due them ; and that the case daily occurs, of banks drawing 
on each other in a similar mode, when balances accrue. 

These palliatives will not stand the test of sober examination. 
A large portion of the heaviest drafts, indeed those that first ex- 
cited alarm, were made during the winter, when the freight was 
20, 25, or 30 per cent, higher, in consequence of the wretched 
state of the roads, than it would have been, had they waited a 
few weeks. This is a conclusive circumstance, taken in con- 
junction with the fact, that there was a superabundance of specie 
'in the Boston Banks, and likewise with the laborious, and unceas- 
ing, and profligate efforts that had been so long made, to destroy 
the public credit. 

It is well known to every person in the slightest degree ac- 
quainted with banking, that when two banks in different cities 
carry on a large intercourse with each other, balances will arise 
in favour of one and against the other, often to a very large 
amount; w^hich balances remain unclaimed, sometimes for 
months together, unless the specie be actually wanted. The 
banks do not choose unnecessarily to incur the expence of trans- 
portation — and wait in expectation of the balance being reduced 
by the regular operations of trade. I am safe in saying that at 
least two millions of dollars are constantly thus circumstanced, 
between New York, Philadelphia, Bahimore, Washington, and 
Richmond. New York occasionally owes largely to Philadel- 
phia — Philadelphia at other times to New York — and so of 
banks in other places. 

, To render the stroke at public credit more unerring — and to 
place the result wholly out of the reach of contingency, there ^ 
-ivere arrajigeinents made with agents of the government oj 
Lower Canada^ rvhereby an immense amount of British govern- 
ment bills^^ drawn in ^lebec^ were transmitted for sale to Ne7U 

* T]ics.e bills were openly advertised for sale in the Boston papers. I arl- 
nex an advertisement taken 

From the Boston Daily Advertiser, December 16, 1814. 
" 1 Bill for - - - - 800/") British government bills for sale, by 
"1 ditto .... 250/ C CHARLES W. GREEN. 

" 1 ditto .... 203/3 No. 14, India whai-f." 



1,253/ 
Let the reader, after having considered the above ostentatious mode of ma- 
naging the intercourse with the enemy, compare the spirit which dictated it 
with that of the revolutionary war, as displayed in the following resolutions and 
orcUnances extracted from the journals of congij^ss. 

June 2, 1775. " Resolved that no bill of exchange, draft, or order, of any 
officer in the army or navy, their agents or contractors, be received or nego- 
ciated, or any refoney be suppUed to 'them by any person in America. Journals 
of compress. Vol 1, 105. 

Marcli 27, 1781. " It is hereby ordained that the citizens and inhabitants ot 

these United States be, and they are strictly enjoined and required to abstain 

from all intercoui-se, con-espondence, or dealings whatsoever with the subjects 

of the king of Great Britain, while at open war witli these United States, as 

• i'hey shall amru-ev the same at their peril. And the executives of the several states 



298 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH". [chap. SS,- 

Tork^ PhUadclphia^ and Baltimore^ and disposed of to monied 
men^ on such advantageous terms as induced them to make large 
purchases. And thus was absorbed a very large portion of the 
capital of these three cities. 

These bills were forwarded through the agency of trusty per- 
sons \n Boston; and the proceeds being placed to their credit, 
added immensely to the command the Boston banks had acquir- 
ed, by the extent of the smuggling trade, over those in the mid- 
dle and southern states. 

Let us here make a solemn pause. Let us strip these facts of 
the thin veil thrown over them. Let us consider them in all 
their nakedness, in all their deformity. 

My heart sickens at the investigation. I turn with disgust, 
with horror, with affright, Boston, the cradle of the revolution, 
which claims so high a degree of pre-eminence for her " mora- 
lity and religion," after having failed in her endeavours to pre- 
vent the success of the loans, draws away the specie from the 
middle and southern states, in order to bankrupt the goveriiment, 
regardless of the universal ruin with which it threatened indis- 
criminately, friends of war — friends of peace — federalists — de- 
mocrats — young and old — men, women, and children ! And, to 
add a deeper dije to the transaction^ the specie is transniitted to 
Canada^ and enables the enemy to dispatch his red allies to swim in 
blood on the defenceless frontiers of their orvn country .'-* this is 

are hereby called vipon to take the most vigilant and effectual measures for de- 
tecting- such intercourse, correspondence, or dcahng's, and bringing- the authors 
thereof, or tliose concerned therein, to condign pnninliraenty Idem, Vol. VII. page 60. 

".lune 21, 1782. Whereas some of the inhabitants of the United States, 
prompted eitiier by a sordid attacliment to gain, or by a secret conspii-acy with 
the enemies of their country, are wickedly engaged in carrying on an illicit traf- 
fic with their enemies, whereby a market is provided for British tnerchandizes, 
THE CIRCULATING SPECIe IS EXPORTED FROM THE UNITED 
STATES, the payment of taxes rendered moi-e difficult and burdensome to die 
people at large, and great discouragement occasioned to honest and lawful 
commerce : 

" Resolved, that it be and hereby is recommended to the legislatures of the se- 
veral states, to adopt the most elHcacious measures for suppressing all traffic 
and illicit intercourse between their respective citizens and the enemy. 

" Resolved, that the legislatures, or, in their recess, the executives of the se- 
veral states, be earnestly requested to impress, by every means in their power, 
on their respective citizens at large, the baneful consequences apprehended by 
congress, from A CONTINUANCE OF THIS ILLICIT AND INFAMOL S 
Traffic, and the necessity of their co-operating with the public measures by 
such united, patriotic, and vigilant exertions, us will detect and bring to legal pa. 
■nishment those ivho shall in any manner have been concerned therein." Idem, page 3U1. 

* Mr. Lowell has attempted to deny the existence of this arrangement. But 
it stands on too strong ground to admit of being disproved. That these bills, to 
an immoderate amount, were transmitted from Quebec ; that they were drawn 
for the support of the armies employed in hostilities against this country ; and 
that they were paid for in specie, devoted to the support of those armies ; are 
facts too stubborn to be set aside. I hereby publicly dare him or any other 
person in the union to disprove any of them. They arc abundantly sufficient 
to establish the iniq'uty of the case. 



CHAP. 53.] ATTEMPTS ON PUBLIC CREDIT. 899 

the work of faction, the heaviest sx;ourge that ever issued from 
Pandora's box ! 

The consequences of these vile operations were long severely 
felt. Many estimable individuals were absolutely ruined. Bank 
paper became an object of brokerage, and was sold at various 
rates from three to twenty-five per cent, discount. A general 
stagnation was produced. The loss fell most heavily on the poor, 
as is usual in all such cases. The rich were enabled to make 
most extravagant profits; and many of them were literally prey- 
ing upon the middle and poorer classes of society. The entire 
profits of business were swallowed up I)y the extravagant dis- 
counts paid on bank paper, a case hitherto unknown in this sec- 
tion of the union. And thus, in a season of distress and diffi- 
culty, the embarrassments of the citizens were doubled and tre- 
bled. And what is the most daring and profligate part of the 
business, the men who 

" Played these pranks before high heaven^'* 

were impudent enough to charge the whole of the distress to the 
account of the administration ! 

" The offence is rank — it smells to heaven.'''* 

To render the affair more shocking, more gross, more hideous, 
those who perpetrated this wickedness, hypocritically refused 
to rejoice in the victories of their country— as " unbecoming a 
moral and religious people ! ! !" 

There is no country in the world, but the United States, 
wherein such a crime could be perpetrated with impunity. Even 
by our mildest of all mild constitutions, it is treason. " Trea- 
son against the United States, shall consist only in levying war 
against them, or in adhering to their enemies, GIVING THEM 
AID AND COMFORT." If supplying an enemy with spe- 
cie to enalole him to carry on the war against their native coun- 
try, be not giving him " aid and comfort^'' and that of the most 
substantial kind, I am utterly ignorant of my native language, 
and know not what are " aid and comfort^'' 

Every man concerned in the business of furnishing these aids 
to the enemy, was ipso facto a traitor — his life was forfeited. 
That he did not expiate his crime by paying the forfeit, he owed 
to the ill-requited lenity of an insulted government. Every 
person who knew of the commission of the crime, and did not 
reveal it, was guilty of misprision of treason. 

Compare this offence with the rebellion of Massachusetts un- 
der Shays ; with the whiskey insurrection, in the neighbourliood 
of Pittsburg ; or with that of the poor, deluded, ignorant Fries ! 
You may as vv-ell compare the Andes to Mount Pleasant ! 

This crime in England would subject the perpetrator either 
to be hung and gibbetted, or to be hung, drawn, and quartered. 



300 



rOLlTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 54. 



In the former case, his carcase would be exposed to be devour- 
ed by obscene birds of prey. In the latter, his head would be 
elevated as an ornament on the tower of London, or elsewhere, 
to deter other traitors from the perpetration of similar crimes. 

Let us once more, though the sight turn us aghast, examine 
this hideous scene — which sinks the perpetrators into the lowest 
abyss of infamy. 

Men in the " moral and religious^'' town of Boston, are obliged 
to lend their money to their own government by stealth. But in 
the face of day, within the knowledge of a whole c_ommunity, 
they send specie to the common enemy to support him in a vindic- 
tive warfare against their own country ! Can human nature sink 
lower ? They are " too iiioral and too religious'" to rejoice at 
the victories of their fellow-citizens — but they are neither '' too 
moral nor too religious" to aid the enemy to victory ! An age 
of penitence in sackloth and ashes would not efface this foul blot 
from the escutcheon of Boston. 

It is hardly possible to add a shade to the enormity of this 
erime. But one circumstance greatly enhances its atrocity. It 
was perpetrated while negociations for peace were pending, the 
success whereof it had so direct a tendency to defeat, by placing 
the British in a situation to rise in their demands ; although the 
guilty persons profess to belong to the " peace party." 

CHAPTER LIV. 

Subject continued. Brief statement of Facts. 

The immense magnitude of the subject of the conspiracy, 
stated in the preceding chapters, induces me to resume it. And 
as I may have been led astray by the delusion which is felt by 
almost every man who forms an hypothesis, I shall therefore 
state anew the- naked facts of the case, unaccompanied by my 
comments. Let the reader duly weigh the evidence, and acquit 
or condemn the accused town, as he may judge proper. 

I. Engagements were entered into in Boston by individuals, 
pledging themselves not to subscribe to the government loans. 

II. When some of them afterwards did subscribe, they found 
it necessary to do it " secrethf to avoid the odium and the 
persecution excited against all who lent their money to the go- 
vernment. 

III. The utmost influence of that powerful instrument, the 
press, and likewise of the pulpit, was employed to discouragb 
and denounce subscribers to the loans. They were proscribed 
as '■'■infamous^'' inthepubhc papers most extensively patronized ; 
and declared, in those papers, and from the pulpit, to be abso% 
lute " murderers.^"* 

IV. During the winter, when the roads were in wretched or- 
der, and when freight was of course from twenty to thirty pel' 



CHAP. 54.] ATTEMPTS ON PUBLIC CREDIT. 301 

cent, dearer than the common freight, the Boston banks made hi^ 
moderate, continued, oppressive, unprecedented, and hostile drafts 
for specie on the Nexv Tork banks, 

V. At this period the former banks had in their vaults an un- 
paralleled quantity of specie — 07ie hundred and fftij per cent, 
more than their notes in circulation. 

VI. These drafts were continued through the spring and sum- 
mer, and obliged the banks in the middle and southern states so 
far to curtail their accommodations, as to bring the commercial 
world to the verge of bankruptcy. Large and ruinous bank- 
ruptcies did take place : twenty and upwaids occurred in New 
York in one day. 

VII. These drafts were carried to such a great extent, that 
on the 26th of August the banks in Baltimore — on the 29th 
those in Philadelphia — and on the 31st those in New York, 
were reducsd to the painful necessity of suspending the payment 
of specie. 

VIII. Contemporaneously with these immoderate drafts, a 
very large amount of bills drawn by the government of Lower 
Canada, were, through the medium of agents in Boston, distri- 
buted in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. 

IX. These bills prodigiously increased the balances against 
the southern banks, and the power of drawing possessed by those 
in Boston, 

X. The specie received for these bills from New Tork, Phila- 
delphia and Baltimore, tvas forwarded to Canada, 

XI. When subscriptions for loans were opened, large quanti- 
ties of public stock were sold at public auction,* and also sent 
from Boston, to the markets in New York, and Philadelphia, 
and Baltimore, and sold at reduced rates, to tempt the monied 
men to invest their money therein, and thus to impede the 
success of the pending loans. 

I submit all these strong facts to the reader. Let him exa- 
mine them, and decide for himself. If he be an upright, can- 
did, honourable man — if he have a spark of public spirit in his 
composition — if he have not renounced all pretensions to the 
name of a Washingtonian — he will pronounce sentence against 
this transaction, its agents, its emissaries, its accomplices, and 
against all who connived at it. If this be '■''federalism of the 
Boston stamps"* I trust the high-minded and honest federalists of 

* Extract of a letter from Boston, dated February 24, 1815. 
" This day twenty thousand dollars, six per cent stock, was put up at auction; 
five thousand dollars of which only was sold for want of bidders, and that at 
forty per cent, under par. As for the former new loan, it would be considered 
little short of an insult to offer it in the market, it being- a very serious ques- 
tion who is to frither the child in case of national difficulties.'* J^'ew York Even- 
ing Post, February 27, 1815. 

O. B. 40 



3Q2 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 55, 

the middle and southern states, will renounce the odious connec- 
tion, and disclaim all participation in such nefarious, such trea- 
sonable practices. 

Mr. Oakley, a member of the house of representatives of the 
United States, in a violent and declamatory speech, alleged the 
strongest charges of gross mismanagement and incapacity against 
the administration, for disadvantageous contracts made for some 
of the loans, whereby millions of dollars wei^e lost to the nation. 
All these losses and disadvantages are fairly chargeable to this 
conspiracy. 

A few ambitious demagogues in Boston have been the guide 
of federalists throughout the union. They led them a devious 
course from the paths prescribed by Washington. They allured 
them to the brink of insurrection, rebellion, and civil war, which 
are synonimous with a dissolution of the union. Whether the 
latter will have magnanimity and fortitude enough to regain the 
honourable paths from which they have been seduced, remains 
to be seen. Their contemporaneous fame — their character with 
posterity — their peace, their happiness, their prosperity — the 
fate of their wives and children — the destiny of their country — 
the question whether we shall be united as a band of brothers, 
or involved in civil war, with its long train of horrors — are all at 
stake. The stake is immense. Pray Heaven they may form a 
just and enlightened decision.* 

CHAPTER LV. 

Massachusetts compared xvith Tennessee. The blind leading the 
blbid. Profits of trade Jifty per cent ! Ro(^ to Ruiti. 

Never did faction more completely degrade and sink a peo- 
ple, than in Massachusetts. That once high-minded state was at- 
tacked by the British with a small force. They were allowed, 
without an effort, to dismember it. They established a regular 
government in their conquests. As no effort was made by this 
state, whose population amounts to about 700,000 free people, 
to prevent the conquest, so none was made to expel the enemy. 
Enslaved by faction, she whined, and scolded, and murmured, 
and winced, and threatened, and cursed the administration for 
not defending her, although she had made every possible exer- 
tion to enfeeble the government, and render it incapable of de- 
fence. 

To sum up the whole. Massachusetts was energetic, firm, 
bold, daring, and decisive in the contest with the general govern- 
ment. She would not abate an inch. She dared it to a conflict. 
She seized it by the throat, determined to strangle it ! She was 
imtameable as a lion, or a tiger, or a panther, or a leopard. But 

* Let it be observed this chapter was written in September, 1814. The 
note inthe preceding page was added to the "th Edition. 



CHAP. 55.] MASSACHUSETTS & TENNESSEE- 303 

she was long-sufFering, and mild, and patient, and harmless, and 
inoffensive, and gentle, and meek, as a lamb or a turtle-dove, 
when she came in contact with the enemy. 

There is some mystery hangs about this affair, which time 
alone can develope. That the British should have attacked 
Massachusetts, where they had so many friends, and spared 
Pennsylvania, where the great majority were hostile to them, 
was so contrary to all the rules of true policy, as to be almost 
inexplicable. I dare not trust myself to hazard a conjecture on 
the subject. The tame acquiescence of such a powerful state, 
in so degrading a situation, must have had some extraordinaiy 
motive. None occurs to my mind that I would choose to com- 
mit to paper. 

But mark the contrast ! Heavens! What a contrast ! Tennessee, 
with a territory of 43,000 square miles — a white population of 
only 217,727, and a formidable black one of 44,535, to guard 
against, was assailed by the most powerful combination of Indians, 
and those of the bravest character, that ever existed since the 
first settlement of this country. She neither winced — nor whined 
— ^nor cursed the government — ^nor shrunk from danger — nor 
threatened a separation. She arose in her strength. She gird- 
ed on her armour. She called her sons from the counter and 
the plough — from the anvil and the loom — from the bench and 
the bar — from the senate house and the council chamber — and 
with a small degree of assistance from Georgia, she vanquished 
the hardy warriors whom a false reliance on British aid had al- 
lured to their ruin. Every successive effort on the part of the 
deluded assailants was equally pregnant with destruction. Com- 
pletely vanquished, they bent their necks to the yoke. They 
cursed the seduction which tempted them from ease, and com- 
fort, and happiness ; and on the forehead of their nation im- 
printed the broad seal of perdition. 

Since the above was written, Tennessee has earned tenfold 
fame by the heroism and public spirit her hardy sons have dis- 
played at New Orleans, where they acquired not merely for 
themselves — and their own state — ^but for the entire nation, a 
wreath of imperishable glory. In this grand achievement Ken- 
tucky partook largely. Both these noble states poured forth their 
sons by thousands, some of them from a distance of nearly eight 
hundred miles, to repel the invaders of their native country. 
With what effect they performed this patriotic service, histoiy 
will convey to posterity, countless ages hence. It will be a sub- 
ject of laudable pride to belong to a nation, whose lawyers and 
doctors — whose farmers and shopkeepers — whose clerks and 
mechanics, hastily collected together, signally defeated an army 
of veterans, of very far superior force, as formidable as any 
equal number ever arrayed in arras. 



304 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 55^ 

The genius of Columbia hides her face with shame, and sor- 
row, and anguish, when she regards the ancient state of Mas- 
sachusetts, degenerated from, and a disgrace to, her hardy 
ancestors. But she looks down with pride, and pleasure, and 
exultation, on the youthful, high-spirited, patriotic, and heroic 
Tennessee and Georgia. 

It is hardly possible to find a stronger contrast — more dis- 
graceful on the one side — more honourable on the other. 

The blind leading the blind. 

There is no man whose zeal in inflaming the public mind, has 
equalled that of the author of the Road to Ruin. He has pub- 
lished as many different sets of papers to excite the abhorrence 
and detestation of the eastern states against the administration, 
as would fill two or three large volumes. He is, in politics, as 
veiy an enrage as ever lived. So violent are his passions on this 
topic, that they lead him eternally astray. He commits himself 
by the most extravagant positions, which nothing but the epi- 
demical madness of the times would have ever suffered to escape 
the keenest ridicule. 

In " the Road to Ruin," he most pathetically deplores the de- 
struction of comitierce, and the introduction of manufactures, 
both of which he regards as equal subjects of lamentation. And 
to make the stronger appeals to the passions of his readers — to 
enhance the misfortune of the loss of commerce — ^he very grave- 
ly states its profits at ''\fifty per cent ! I .'" It is even so, reader : 
^' Jiffy P^^ ^^"^ •' •' •'" ^^ ^^ \y^vA to conceive a higher grade of 
extravagance and folly. I'he average profits of successful com- 
merce are not twelve per cent. And if the whole of the com- 
mercial capital employed in this country, during the last twenty 
years, be taken into view, including that of the merchants who 
have become b«nkrupts, it is probable that the profits do not ex- 
ceed eight per cent. The failures among that class are very 
numerous, and out of all proportion greater than among any 
other. Of the merchants in New York and Philadelphia who 
were in eminence ten years ago, I think I am warranted in say- 
ing, that nearly two-thirds have been utterly ruined. It is well 
known, that the West India trade has been almost always a los- 
ing one. In fact, of the few fortunate merchants who escape 
shipwreck, it may be fairly said, 

" Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto.'''' 

This writer is either a deceiver — or he has deceived himself. 
In either case he is " a blind leader of the blind ;" And it can 
never be sufficiently deplored, that a man in this situation should 
have so very pernicious an influence on the destinies of eight 
millions of people and their posterity. He has chosen a most 



CHAP. 56.] PULPIT POLITICS. 305 



felicitous title — ^" The Road to jRuin.^'' — -And verily he has so 
long been leading his deluded followers on " the road to ru'in^'* 
that he has brought them to the very verge of the precipice. 

Lest the reader should suppose I have done him injustice, I 
submit his own words. If I have tortured his meaning, on my 
head be all the censure I have so freely bestowed upon him— 

" We take from trade a capital -which produced FIFTY PER CENT, and we 
invest it m manufactures, PRECARIOUS IN THEIR ISTATURE, wliich may 
never produce twenty, and which may prove our ruin."-j- 

This shoit paragraph is as fallacious as any equal number of 
lines ever published. Every position it lays down is deceptions. 
When the writer einphatically states, that manufactures are 
" precarious In their 7iature^'' he must mean, by way of contra- 
distinction, that commerce is blest with absolute security. Both 
are arrant errors. Commerce is proverbially insecure. No de- 
gree of prudence affords full security in that department. Manu- 
factures, prudently managed, have as much certainty as any 
other human undertakings whatever. 

One word more. What dependence can be placed upon the 
assertions, the insinuations, the allegations, on subjects abstruse 
or difficult to decide upon, of a man who makes such an egre- 
gious, such a momentous error in a case where detection treads 
5?o closely on his heels ? 

CHAPTER LVI. 

Pidpit politics. Prostitution of the sacred functions. Mas- 
sacre on board the Ocean. An anthology of sedition. 

" Politics and the pulpit are terms that have httle agreement. J^o goimJ 
ous^ht to be heard in the church but the voice of healing chanty.''' [What a divine 
idea !] " The cause of civil liberty and civil government gains as little as that 
of religion, by this confusion of duties. Those who cjuit their proper charac- 
ter, to assume what does not belong to them, are, for the greater part, ignorant 
both of the character they leave, and of the character they assume. Wholly 
unacquainted with the world, in which they are so fond of meddling, and inex- 
perienced in all its affiiirs, on which they pronounce with so much confidence, 
they have notMng of poUtics but the passions they excite. Siirely the church is 
a place ivhere one daifs truce ought to be allnved to the dissensions and animosities 
of mankind.''^ Burke. 

Of all the abominations that disgrace and dishonour this 
country in these portentous times, I know nothing more deserv- 
ing of reprobation than the prostitution of the pulpit for party 
or political purposes. No man of correct mind can seriously re- 
flect upon it without shuddering with horror. 

A clergyman, whose functions pre-eminently require him to 
preach " peace and good will among men^'' ascends the pulpit 
among a congregation assembled to unite in praising and ador- 
ing the Omnipotent Creator. He holds in his hand the Tes- 
tament of Jesus Christy which breathes nothing but peace — he 

t See in the Examiner, vol. i. page 141, the Road to Ruin, No. VIII. 



305 POLITICAL OLFVE BRANCH. [chap. 56, 

pronounces^ and has for a text^ the -words of Jesus Christy or of 
his apostles^ of the ?nost pacific tendency : and^ as a suitable ac- 
companiment^ for an hour long he employs all his zeal, all his 
talents, all his influence, for the fanatical, the anti-christian, the 
satanical purpose of enkindling among his hearers the most bale- 
ful^ the most furious passions — of preparing them for insurrec- 
tion and revolution — for all the Korrors of civil xvar. 

*' The alternative then is, that if you do not wish to become the slaves of 
those who own slaves, and who are themselves the slaves of French slaves, 
you must cither, in the language of the day, CUT THE CONNEXION, or so 
far alter the national compact, as to insure yourselves a due share in tlie go- 
vernment :" 

This elegant and sublime morgeau, which breathes so much 
of the spirit of St. Paul, " let every soul be sidyect to the higher 
powers^''* is taken from a sermon preached in Boston, by the 
Rev. Mr. Gardiner, July 23, 1812. The christian injunction 
of " cutting the connexion^'' that is, rebelling against their oxvn 
government^ wonderfully accords with the declaration of the 
text, which, gentle reader, is — '■'- 1 am for peace,'''' Psalm 120, 
V. 7. Never was there a more wonderful association — " Cut 
the conriexion'''' — and " / am for peace /" From such apostles 
of peace, good Lord deliver us ! 

It is impossible much to aggravate the hideousness of this 
procedure. But when the preacher commits himself by false- 
hood, as sometimes happens, it caps the odious climax. A few 
years since, on the eve of a general election in Massachusetts, 
to answer the purposes of party, a fabulous story was circulated, 
that the French had massacred the crew of a vessel called the 
Ocean. It was one of a thousand falsehoods of the same 
kind. A clergyman, whose name I spare, seized the story with 
avidity — wove it into his sermon — and invoked the vengeance 
of heaven on the murderers. But mark the end of it. The 
holy zeal of the auditor)^ had not time to cool, when, to cover 
the preacher with confusion, a resurrection of the murdered 
crew took place. They returned home, safe and sound, from 
the stilettos and daggers of the blood-thirsty French — and held 
cut a strong memento to the preacher against a repetition of such 
an anti-christian procedure. 

The practice of preaching political sennons is utterly impro- 
per, even when a congregation are all united — all of one senti- 
ment, if such a case ever occurred. But when they are divided, 
as must necessarily almost always happen, what a view does it 
present ? That portion of the congregation differing from the 
preacher, are reduced to the alternative of either absenting them- 
selves from divine worship, or sitting patiently silent under the 
undeserved reproaches, and abuse, and maledictions of a man 
who flies in the face of all his duties, and to whom they cannot 
offer a reply. 



CBAP. 56.] PULPIT POLITICS. 307 

To enable the reader to form a correct estimate of the abomi- 
nation which I have here denounced, as well as of the justice 
of the denunciation itself, I present him with an anthology, se- 
lected from the sermons of three clergymen, the Rev. Messrs. 
Parish, Osgood, and Gardiner, to whom no small portion of the 
seeds of insurrection, rebellion, and civil war, so plentifully 
sown in the eastern states, is justly chargeable. Never, since 
the first establishment of the clerical functions, were they more 
miserably employed — more contrary to the divine injunctions 
of the meek and mild Jesus, whose disciples these reverend gen- 
tlemen profess to be — whose doctrines they profess to teach — 
and whose example they profess to follow, and to hold out for 
imitation. 

From the Rev. J. S. J. Gardiner^ A, 31. rector of Trhiky 

Church, Boston. 

" The British, after all, save for us by their convoys, infinitely more property 
than they deprive us of. WHERE THEY TAKE ONE SHIP, THEY PRO- 
TECT TWENTY. Where they commit one outrage, they do many acts of 
kindness." Discourse delivered April 9, 1812, page 15. 

" England is willing to sacrifice every thing to conciliate us, except her ho- 
nour and independence.*' Idem, page 10. 

" It is a war unexampled in the history of the luorld : wantonly proclaimed on 
the most frivolous and groundless pretences, against a nation from whose friend- 
ship we might derive the most signal advantages, and from whose hostility we 
htive reason to dread the most tremendous losses." Discourse delivered July 25, 
1812, page 3. 

" So fiir from there being British partizans in this country, it is difficult 
to find an individual candid enough to do that nation common justice," Idem, 
page 10. 

*' Every provocation has been offered to Great Britain on our part, and our 
resentment has risen in proportion as she has shoinn a conciliating spirit." Idem, 
page 12. 

" What consequence is it to you, if they be repealed or not, if you are sold 
to JVapoleon, as you have reason to believe, by the slaves luho have abused your con- 
fidence" Idem, page 11. 

" Let no considerations whatever, my brethren, deter you at all times, and 
in all places, from execrating the present war. It is a war unjust, foolish, and 
ruinous. It is unjust, because GREAT BRITAIN HAS OFFERED US EVERY 
CONCESSION SHORT OF WHAT SHE CONCEFYES WOULD BE HER 
RUIN." Idem, page 15. 

" As Mr. Madison has declared war, let Mr. Madison carry it on." Idem, 
page 17. 

"THE UNION HAS BEEN LONG SINCE \TRTUALLY DISSOLVED : 
AND IT IS FULL TIME THAT THIS PART OF THE DISUNITED STATES 
SHOULD TAKE CARE OF ITSELF ! !" Idem, page 19. 

From the Rev. David Osgood, D. D. pastor of the church at 

Medford. 

"The strong prepossessions of so great proportion of my fellow citizens in 
favour of a race of demons, and against a iiation of more religion, virtue, good 
faith, generosity, and beneficence, than any that novj is, br ever has been upon the 



308 FOLITICAL OLIAE BRANCH, [chap. 5ti. 

face of the earth, wring mv soul with anguish, and fill my heart with apprehen- 
*sion and terror of the judgnnents of heaven upon this sinful people." Discourse 
delivered Apinl 8, 1810, page 40. 

" If at the command of weak or wicked rulers, they undertake an unjust war, 
each man who volunteers his services in such a cause, or loans his money for its 
support, or by his conversation, his writings, or any other mode of influence, 
encourages its prosecution, that man is an accomplice in the wickedness, loads 
his conscience with the blackest crimes, brings the guilt of blood upon his soul, 
and IN THE SIGHT OF GOD AND HIS LAW IS A MURDERER." Bis. 
course delivered Jmie 27, 1812, page 9. 

" Since the period of their pretended repeal, SCORES, IF NOT HUNDREDS 
of our vessels have been seized in French ports, or burnt at sea by French 
cruisers, wliile many of their unoffending crews were manacled like slaves, con- 
jiJied in. French prisons, orforcedon hoard of French ships to fight against Englaild." 
Idem, page 11. 

" Our government, with a hardihood and effrontery, at which demons might 
have blushed, persisted in asserting the repeal." Ibid. 

•' My mind has been in a constant agony, not so much at the inevitable loss 
of our temporal prosperity and luippiness, and the complicated miseries of war, 
as at its guilt, its outi-age against heaven, against all truth, honesty, justice, good- 
ness ; against all the principles of social happiness." Idem, page 12. 

" Were not the authors of this war in character nearly akin to the deists and 
atheists of France ; were they not men of hardened hearts, seared consciences, 
reprobate minds, and desperate iiickedness, it seems utterly inconceivable that 
they should have made the declaration." Idem, page 13. 

"One hope on'y remains, that this last stroke of perfidy may open the eyes 
of the besotted p(;op!e ; that thev may awake, like a giant from his slumbers, 
and WREAK THEIR VENGEANCE ON THEIR BETRAYERS, by driving 
them from their stations, and placing at the helm more skilful and faithful 
hands." Idem, page 17. 

**Ifat the present moment, no symptoms of civil loar appear, they certainly -tdll 
aoon ; unless the courage of the ivar party should fail them ! ! .'" Idem, page 
14.* 

" A civil -war becomes as certain as the events that happen according to the knoym 
laivs and established cotirse of nature ! ! .'" Idem, page 15,* 

From the Rev. E lis ha Parish, D. D. 

" The Israehtes became weary of yielding the fruit of their labour to pamper 
their splendid tyrants. They left tlieir political woes. THEY SEPARATED. 
WHERE IS OUR MOSES ! ! ! Where is the rod of his miracles ! ! ! Where is our 
■Aaron .' ! ! Alas ! no voice from the burning bush has directed tliem here." 
Discourse delivered at By field, April 7, 1814, page 18. 

" There is a point ; there is an hour ,- beyond which you will not bear .' .' .'" 
Idem, page 12. 

" Such is the temper of American republicans, so called. A new language 
must be invented before we attempt to express the baseness of their conduct, or de- 
scribe the rottenness of their hearts." Idem page 21. 

* These sentences are already quoted in a former part of this book. They 
are nevertheless repeated here, as peculiarly appropriate. 

■\ After the reader has perused this detestable effusion of prejudice and 
virulence, let him compare it with the following declaration, made by this rev- 
erend gentleman, in a sermon preached at Cambridge, Api-il 8, 1810 ; " God is 
my witness that I would not upon any consideration, willin.gly or unnecessarily 
wound the feelings of, or give offence to, an individual in this assembly." 



«HAP. 56.] PULPIT POLITICS. 309 

" New England, if invaded, would be obliged to defend herself. Do you not 
then owe it to your children, and owe it to your God, to make peace for your- 
selves ?" Idem, page 23. 

" You may as well expect the cataract of Niagara to turn its current to the 
head of Superior, as a wicked congress to make a pause in the work of destroying 
their country, while the people will furnish the means." Idem, page 8. 

"Alas! WE HAVE NO MOSES TO STRETCH HIS ROD OVER THE 
SEA ! ! ! No Lebanon, nor Carmel, nor Zion to invite us across the de^p '.'* 
Idem, page J 4. 

" The Republics of Rome, and Venice, and perhaps another, which alone 
exists, have been as oppressive as the despotism of Tui'key, of Persia, or Ja- 
pan." Idem, page 3. 

Of the law of Pharaoh, which condemned to death the first- 
born of the Israelites, this reverend gentleman says— 

" A thousand times as many sons of America have probably fallen victims of 
this ungodly war, as perished in Israel by the edict of Pharaoh. Still the war 
is only beginning. If ten thousand have fallen, te7t thousand times ten thousand 
mayfalir Idem, page 7. 

Those who take the trouble of multiplying, will find that ten 
thousand times ten thousand make 100,000,000, who were to 
perish out of a population of 8,000,000 ! ! ! ! 

" Should the Enghsh now be at liberty to send all their annies and all their 
ships to America, and //;, one day burn every city from Maine to Georgia, your con- 
descending rulers would play on their harps, while they gazed at the tremeiulou3 
conflatrratioiu'' Idem, page 8. 

" tyrants are the same on the banks of the Nile and the Patowmac ; at Mem- 
phis and at Washington ; in a monarchy and a republic.'" Idem, page 9. 

" Like the worshippers of Moloch, \he supporters of a vile administration 
sacrifice their cliildren and funilies on the altar of democracy. Like the wi- 
dows of Hindostan, they consume tliemselves. Like the frantic votaries of 
Juggernaut, they throw'themselves under the car of their pohtical idol. They 
are crushed by its bloody wheels." Idem, page 21. 

" The full vials of desjootism are poured on your heads. And yet you may 
challenge the plodding Israelite, the stupid African, the feeble Chinese, the 
drowsy Turk, or tlie frozen exile of Siberia, to equal you in tame submission to 
the powers that be." Idem, page 12. 

" Here we must trample on the mandates of despotism ! ! ! or here we must re- 
main slaves forever." Idem, page 13. 

" You may envy the privilege of Israel, and mourn that no land of Canaan has 
been promised to your ancestors. Y'ou cannot separate from the muss of corrup- 
tion, which would poison the atmosphere of paradise. Vou must, in obstinate 
despair, bow down your necks to the yoke, and with your African brethren 
drag the chains of Virginia despotism, unless you discover some other mode of 
escape." Idem, page 15. 

" Has not New England as much to apprehend as the sons of Jacob had i 
But no child has been taken from the river to lead -us through the sea." Idem, 
page 20. 

« God will bring good from every evil. The furnaces of Egypt Ughted Is- 
rael to the land of Canaan." Idem, page 22. 

" Which sooty slave, in all the ancient dominion, has more obsequiously 
watched the eye of his master, or flew to the indulgence of liis desii-es more 
servilely, than the same masters have wailed, and watched, and obeyed the 
orders of the gi-eat Napoleon ?"■ Discourse delivered at By f eld, Aprils, 18i:>, 

page 21. T t p 

" The legislators who yielded to this war, when assailed by the mamtesto ot 

their angi-y chief, established iniquity and murder by law" Idem, page 9. 

" In tiie first onset [of the war] moral principle was set at defiance. The 

laws of God, and hopes of man were utterly disdained. Vice thre^v off her veil, 
O. B. 41 



3.10 POLITICAL OLn-E BRANCH, [chap. S&. 

and crimes -were decked idth highest honours. This war not only tolerates crimes, 
but calls for them, demands them. Crimes are the food of its life, the arms of 
its streng'th. This war is a monster, which every hour gormandises a thousand 
crimes, and yet cries, " give, give." In its birth, it demanded the violation of 
.all good faith, perjiuy of office, the sacrifice of neutral impartiality. The first 
moment in whicli the dragon mo\ed, piracy and murder ivere legalised. Havoc, 
death, and conjlagration -ax'rc the viands of lier frst repast ^' Idem, page 11. 

" Those western states which have been violent for this abominable war of 
murder ; those states which have thirsted for blood, (Jod has given them blood 
to drink. Their men have fallen. Their lamentations are deep and loud." Idem, 
page 16. 

" Our government, if they may be called the government, and not the destroyers 
of the country, bear all these tilings as patiently as a colony of convicts sail into 
Botany Bay." Idem, page 5. 

" Let every man who sanctions this war by his suffrage or influence, remem- 
ber tliat he is labouring to cover himself and his countiy witli blood. THE 
BLOOD OF THE SLAIN WILL CRY FROM THE GROUND AGAINST 
HIM." Idem, page 23. 

" How will the supporters of this anti-christian lonrfare endm'e their sentence ; 
endure tlieir own reflections; endure the fire tJtat forever hums; the ivorm 
-Mch never dies ; the hos annas of heaven ; WHILE THE SMOKE OF THEIR 
TORMENTS ASCENDS FOREVER AND EVER." Idem, page 24. 

" To raise army after army to be sacrificed, when the English do all which is 
possible, to soften the rigours of captivity, by kindness to the prisoners which 
they have taken BY THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS, restoring them to their 
families, WITHOUT A RANSOM, AND WITHOUT THEIR REQUEST ; to 
carry on such a war, after its only arowed cause has been removed, is it not 
the lawless attack of Goths and Vandals, the daring pillage of wild Arabs, a h- 
centious outrugc on all the jjrinciples of cliristianity, an impious abandonment 
of divine protection .''" Idem, page 5. 

I had beguti to comment on these extracts. But I have 
changed my purpose. I resign them to the judgment of the 
reader. I shall merely say, if the preachers were really sincere, 
what transcendent infatuation ! If not, what transcendent turpi- 
tude ! In either case, what transcendent profanation of the cler- 
ical fiinctioiis ! — and of a religion breathing peace and good will 
among men ! Maj- the Lord grant that no American congrega- 
tionmay ever again dishonour or disgrace itself by patiently lis- 
tening to such vile ribaldry. 

Success of the war. 
The enemies of the administration were lavish of their re- 
proaches, in the early stages of the war, on its ill success, which 
to many of them was a svibject of as much triumph, as if they 
belonged to a hostile nation — as if whatever dishonour and dis- 
grace might arise from it, were to attach themselves wholly to 
the administration. The blindness and perversity of many of 
our citizens on this topic, were lUterly astonishing. Whatever 
of glory was acquired, or of disgrace sustained in the war, its 
friends and enemies partook equally in the eyes of the world.* 

* This all-important ideals placed in tlie strongest and most striking point 
of light by the editor of the Analeclic Magazine, in the life of commodore Per- 
ry ; of which most elegant performance, may be saidwitli perfect truth, " the 
hero was worthy of such a biograplier, and the biographer was wortliy of such 
an illustrious hero." There is not extant a production of which I should be 
more gratified to have been the author. 



CHAP, 56.] SUCCESS OF THE WAR. 311 

It is likewise made a subject of reproach to the administration, 
and of rejoicing to some dekided people, whom party passions 
have led astray, and blinded to the interest and honour of their 
country, that the government has abandoned its ground on the 
subject of impressment ! A most melancholy subject of re- 
joicing! Alas ! it was not the power of England, nor the down- 
fal of Bonaparte, that produced this abandonment of the claims 
of the poor, suffenng,nautical hero ! No. Internal discord, more 
fatal than tens of thousands of embattled enemies, has subjected 
to the risk of impi^essment countless numbers of future Hulls, 
Perrys, Porters, Lawrences, and M'Donoughs. 

The war, to the mortification of the enemies of the country, 
has crowned the Ignited States with naval glory. We have more 
impaired the naval standing of Great Bi-itain, than all the ene- 
mies she has had for a century ; and ourScotts, and our Browns, 
and our Ripleys, and our Gaineses, and our Macombs, and our 
Harrisons, and our Coffees, and our Carrols, and our Jacksons, 
have acquired by land, honour and glory equal to what has been 
acquired on the water b}' our Hulls, Decaturs, Bainbridges, Pei"- 
rys. Porters, Biddies, Joneses, and M'Donoughs. 

But had the war been unsuccessful, it would hot have been sur- 
prising. It would have more completely covered the nation with 
the proudest laurels, had Boston observed an impartial neutrality. 
But she persecuted the government with as much virulence, and 
malignity, raid violence, as if it were administered by demons 
incaniate. She involved in the vortex of disaffection no small 
portion of the population of her own and sister states, and did 
England rnore elective service than all her armies.^ 

Let those infatuated men, who caught the government by the 
throat, and almost strangled it, by the destruction of its credit, 
and by shackling all its efforts, only reflect for a few minutes 
calmly on the effect of their conduct. They desired peace. But 
they really prolonged the war. If, notwithstanding the immense 
disadvantages under which it was conducted, through the disaf- 
fection of such a large body of our citizens, we so harassed and 
crippled the trade of the enemy, what would have been the re- 
sult,, had the united energies of the nation been employed to 
avenge the national M^rongs- — had all the ports of the eastern 

* Of the sty]e and manner in wliich the government has been assailed on the 
subject of the loans, the reader will find hi the fifty-second and fifty -sixth chap- 
ters, a few specimens. Many of the paragraphs on this and other to])ics tlisplay 
^ degree of malice, and virulence, and ribaldiy, tliat can only be equalled by the 
writers of the Courier and the Times. Adhesion to the enemy is visiBle in the 
elaborate defences of his conduct that so frequently appeared in a large pro- 
portion of the papers published to the eastward. And, strange to tell, there was 
a most elaborate set of essays published in Boston under the signature of Facifi- 
cus, defending the monstrous claim to one hundred and si::ty-five millions of 
acres of our territory, as a Siiw-qua-non condition of peace. These essays were 
republished in most of the federal papers throughout the union without com- 
ment or censure. 



312 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [«;uap. 57 

States contributed their proportion towards the common cause ? 
Great Britain would in that case have been wear)' of the war in 
twelve months. She would have given us an early and honour- 
able peace. Millions of debts and taxes would have been saved 
— thousands of lives on both sides been preserved — the destruc- 
tion of public and private credit been prevented — and the two 
nations would have been early restored to the relations of com- 
merce and friendship. This is an awful view of the labours of 
the '■^ peace party. '*'' 

CHAPTER LVII. 

Parties change 7iame and. character, Jacobins. Definition, 
Unholy struggle for porter ^ the caiise of all our dificulties. 
Parties sometimes change their names, though they retain 
their principles. But they more frequently change their cha- 
racter, and conduct, and principles, still retaining their names. 
On many occasions in England, whig administrations have en- 
forced tory measures. And some of the most whiggish mea- 
sures have been adopted by tory administrations. A very large 
number of the democrats in 1793, particularly in the western 
parts of Pennsylvania, were rank jacobins and disorganizers. 
They offered violence to the government, and raised an insur- 
rection, to free themselves from a paltr)- excise on whiskey, one 
of the most rational and salutary taxes ever devised. Most of 
those men who then violated the laws in this respect, are now 
strenuous supporters of the government. 

On the other hand, the federalists of 1793, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, 
were zealous '■'•friends of order and good government.'''' This 
was with them a sort of watch-word. They were ardent sup- 
porters of the honour of the constituted authorities, which they 
identified with their own. A very large portion of them still 
adhere to the good old faith and practice. But there are too 
many who are arrant jacobins and disorganizers, and as ripe 
for tumult and commotion, as the most violent democrats of 1 7^o. 
They may murmur and may curse me for this declaration as 
much as they please. I care not. They may exhaust Enml- 
phus's whole collection of maledictions on my devoted head. 
But were these maledictions ten times reiterated, they would 
not efface from their escutcheon the foul blot of jacobinism. A 
jacobin is a man of violence in politics — an enemy to legal go- 
vernment — a man ripe for revolution. This definition is substan- 
tially correct. And every man, therefore, is a jacobin who was 
in favour of sending to Elba, the President of the United States^ 
chosen by the unbiassed votes of a free nation. Every man is a 
rank jacobin, who w^is for putting down the admiiiistration hy 
force. Every man is a rank jacobin, who, with Cyrus King, of 
Massachusetts, regardless of decency, decorum, propriety, or 
dignity of character, theatened the president in an inuendo xvith 



«HAP. 57.] STRUGGLE FOR OFFICE. 313 

if 
a halter.^ Every man is a rajik jacobin, who, with Mr. Cole- 
man, editor of the New York Evening Post, preferred rvar with 
all its horrors, all its devastations, to a continuance of the present 
administration. Every man is a rank, furious, envenomed, and 
dangerous jacobin, who, with Mr. Blake, a quondam democraty 
seized the advantage of a distressing war, to organize one por- 
tion of the nation in hostility against the rest.j 

In fine, every man who wishes the minority to trample do\A-n 
and rule the majority — who himself opposes, or Avho excites op- 
position to, the laws — who seeks to dissolve the union under any 
pretext whatever — Avho defends the enemies of his country, 
right or wrong, and slanders and degrades his own government, 
is an enrage — a disorganizer — a jacobin. 

Struggle for ofice. 

It is in vain to disguise the truth. Would to God, that I had 
a voice of thunder to proclaim it through the nation ! The con- 
vulsions and dangers of our country arose from the lust of of- 
fice and power. The safety, the welfare, the happiness of eight 
millions of people and their posterity, were jeopardized and ex- 
posed to ruin, in the unholy straggle. To embarrass, disgrace, 
and render odious and unpopular the men possessed of power, 
for the purpose of displacing them, and vaulting into the vacant 
seats, is a procedure, as ancient as government itself. And that 
it has been almost universally prevalent here, is incontroverti- 
ble. It is not wonderful that those whose grand and sole ob- 
jects are power, and the emoluments of office, should pursue 
this plan. The depravity of human nature sufficiently accounts 
for it. But that a large portion of the community who neither 
have nor hope for places of honour or profit, should lend them- 

* To the disgrace and dishonour of the house of representatives of the Uni- 
ted States, this \T.le effusion of Billingsgate was allowed to pass without a call 
to order. 

f Mr. Blak"* is Hkely to be a conspicuous character. Neither iNIarat, Dan- 
ton, nor Robespierre began their career witli more violence than he hasah-eady 
displayed. Memo repente turpissmms. He will improve as he g-oes on. i 
stake my existence, that had a civil war taken place (as would have been the 
case, had Mr. Blake's counsels prevailed) and hadliis party not been crushed in 
the conflict, as they probably would; if they had acquired the ascendenc}, there 
would have been as summary process with the democrats of that quarter as 
thei'e was with the royalists under the guillotine ffoveniment of Paris, JMen are 
monsters all the -world over, tvhen unrestrained by hrw and constitution. I hope in 
the tender mercy of God, we shall never try the experiment. But if, in the ven- 
geance of heaven, we are destined to do it, we sliall add our example to that 
of France in proof of this theory. Mr. Blake transcended his friend Mr. Otii> 
far. The latter gentleman was surely violent enough ; but he was obliged to curb 
and restrain </ie converted democrat. Perhaps this was vl intse de guerre ,- per- 
haps the outrageous violence of Mr. Bl.ake was Intended to form a contrast with 
the mildness of the projet of Mr. Otis, who was thereby to gain the jiopular ti- 
tle of a " modere." Old Lord Burleigh, or Machiavel himself, could not ar- 
range the matter better. But, reader, I merely _§-(<e.5s at these things. I am 
too far removed from the political chessboard, to judge ofthe stute of the game. 



314 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 58. 

selves to such a scheme — should allow themselves to be made 
instruments to be wielded for the purpose — that they should, as 
the history of this young country has often verified, shut their 
eyes to the vital interests of the nation, in order to promote the 
aggrandizement of a fev/ men, is really astonishing. 

The folloAving paragraph from the New York Evening Post, 
is as candid a confession of a most sinister object as ever was 
made. While we were exposed to all the horrors of war — our 
cities and towns liable to Copenhagenism — our wives and ov;r 
daughters to violation — it was ingenuously avowed, that all 
these frightful evils twri? of no account compared xvith the ex- 
clusion of Mr. ColemarCs friends from office ! ! ! It is impossi- 
ble to mistake the idea. It is capable of no other than this in- 
terpretation. However we reprobate its want of public spirit, 
its candour commands applause. 

" What would be the value of a, peace, if not attended with a chang'e of 
those rulers who are driving' the country headlong to ruin ? A PFIACE, if such 
be its effects, WOULD BE THE HEAVIEST OF CURSES. There is no event 
that could happen ; no possible condition of things that could be imagined, ivhich 
ought not to be deplored, and avoided, as 'the HEAVIEST OF CALAMITIES, 
if its tendeiifif is to perpetuate power in the profligate hands that for sixteen years 
have governed this miliappy country.^' 

The man who can read these declarations v/ithout shudder- 
ing with horror, must have his moral feelings destroyed, or at 
least blunted to an extreme degree. These sentiments have ap- 
peared in other papers besides the New York Evening Post. 

This paragraph affords a complete clue to all the convulsive 
Struggles in congress — all the efforts to prevent the success of 
every measure calculated to meet the emergencies of the war. 
The possession of power on the one hand, or the perdition of 
the country on the other, were tbe alternatives. The parties, 
alas ! had no hesitation about forcing the choice on their ill- 
starred country ! 

CHAPTER LVIII. 

" Thou shah not vex the stranger, nor oppress him ; for ye were strangers in the 
land of Egypt." Exodus, xxii. 21. 

lU'iberaUtii of prejudices against foreigners. Ungrateful on the 
part of America. Irishmen and Frenchmen peculiar objects 
of dislike. Pennsylvania line. Extreme sUj^ering, Tempt' 
ing allurements. Unshaken virtue and heroism. Arnold. Silas 
Deane, Refugees. 

" The real cause of the war must be traced to ***** the influence of 
■ivortldess foreigners over the press, and the deliberations of the g-overnment in 
all its branches," Heply of the house of representatives af Massachusetts to the 
speech of governor Strong, June, 1814. 

I HAVE long desired a fair opportunity of handling this topic. 
I have long felt indignant at the discriminate abuse hurled on 



CHAP. 58.] PREJUDICES AGAINST FOREIGNERS. S15 

foreigners in general — and more particularly on the Irish, on 
whose devoted heads are incessantly '•^poured out the vials of 

There is no country that owes more to — there is no country 
has more need of — foreigners. There is perhaps no country in 
which they are more the objects of invective, of reproaches of 
envy and jealousy. 

A jealousy of foreigners prevails in England. But it is con- 
fined to the canaille, > ho, trundling their barrows — sweeping the 
streets — or pursuing their genteel offices of chimney sweeps and 
night men — hate and despise the dag- and tail parleyvous — the 
blundering Irishman — the simple sawney Scotchman — the leek- 
eating Welchman. In fact, every man who wears a coat diifer- 
ent from his own, or who displays any indication that proves 
him not to be a "• true-born Englishman," is an object of con- 
tempt to an English scavenger. 

But it is not thus in high life in that country. A foreigner of 
genteel manners — decent address — and good character, is treated 
with the attention and politeness he deserves. 

With a degree of magnanimity, deserving of praise, and 
worthy of being copied, England, who possesses abundance of 
artists of high standing, and sterling merits, appointed the 
American West, as president of her royal academy. France, 
with a constellation of native talents never exceeded, entrusted 
her armies to a Berwick, to a Saxe, to a Miranda, to a Kellerman. 
At a more recent period, a Swiss banker presided over her finan- 
cial concerns. Russia has frequently placed over her fleets 
Scotch naval heroes. In fact, explore Christendom, and you 
will find there is no country so savage, so uncultivated, or so 
highly polished and refined, which does not cheerfully avail it- 
self of the proffered talents of the foreigner who makes his per^ 
manent domicil there. 

But in this " most enlightened'''' of all the enlightened nations 
of the earth, party spirit has excited a peculiar degree of ma- 
levolence against the Irish and the French — and for the same 
reason ; because England is hostile to both. The urbanity, the 
mildness, the equanimity, the refinement, and the politeness of 
the Frenchman, avail him nothing. He is an object of jealousy 
and ill-will, in spite of all his own good and endearing qualities, 
and in spite too of the services his nation " in the jlerij hour 
oftr'tal^"* rendered the United States. The poor, persecuted, 
proscribed, and oppressed Irishman, hunted out of his own coun- 
try, and knowing the value of liberty here, from the privation of 
it there — finds the antipathies of his lords and masters transfer- 
red to many of those whose fellow citizen he intends to become. 
To some of these narroAv, infatuated, bigotted and illile-ral men, 
a Hottentot, or a Caffrarian, or a Japanese, would be more ac- 
ceptable thaa an Irishman, 



315 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 5S. 

One circumstance — were there no other on record — ought to 
endear to Americans, the name, the country of an Irishman. It 
has a high claim, not cancelled, on the pen of the historian. It 
has not yet had justice done it. Let me grace my book with 
the narrative. 

During the American revolution, a band of Irishmen were 
embodied to avenge, in the country of their adoption, the inju- 
ries of the country of their birth. They formed the major part 
of the celebrated Pennsylvania line. They bravely fought and 
bled for the United States. Many of them sealed their attach- 
ment with their lives. Their adopted country was shamefully 
ungrateful. The wealthy, the independent, and the luxurious, 
for whom they fought, were rioting in the superfluities of life, 
while their defenders were literally half starved, and half na- 
ked. Their shoeless feet marked with blood their tracks on the 
highway. They long bore their grievances patiently. They at 
length murmured. Ihey remonstrated. They implored a sup- 
ply of the necessaries of life; but in vain. A deaf ear was 
turned to their complaints.* They felt indignant at the cold 
negl ct — at the ingratitude — of that coimtry for which so many 
of their companions in arms had expired on the crimsoned field 
of battle. They held arms in their hands. They had reached 
the boundarv line, beyond which forbearance and submission be- 
come meanness and pusillanimity. As all appeals to the grati- 
tude, the justice, the generosity of the country, had proved una- 
vailing, they determined to try another course. They appealed 

* It is painful to state a much more recent case of this ingratitude, which is 
highly discrc'dital)le to the city of Phihidelphia. In the summer of the year 
1814j this city was struck witli fear of a foe, who was believed to be preparing 
to attack us. Tiiousandsof citizens, many of them hundreds of miles remote 
from us, volunteered their services in our defence. They left their homes, 
their firesides, their parents, their wives, their children, their business, and all 
tlieir domestic enjoyments, to protect us. We made them a base return. They 
pined and languished in tlie hardsliips of a camp, neglected — grossly, .shame- 
fully neglected, by those for whom they were prepared to risk their precious 
lives. Conti-ibutions were requested by the committee of defence for the 
comfort of tlie soldiers, and for the support of their wives and children. — 
It is painful to state, birt it must be stated, that in a city where there are pro- 
bably one hundred persons worth above §250,000 — thirty or forty worth 3 or 
400,000, and several supposed to be worth millions ; the whole contribution 
did not exceed §5,000 ; a sum which half a dozen individuals ought to have 
contributed themselves. The ingratitude and want of liberaUty of the citizens 
of Piiiladeljiliia, and the poverty of the government, which was unable to pay 
the mihtia tlieir hard earned dues, forced many of them to depend on cJiarity for 
the vieanx of reaching their distmit hoinea ! ! ! Could the immortal Pknn, the 
founder of the City of Brotherly love, look down from the regions of bliss, where 
he is at rest, he must have sighed over the disgraceful scene. 

*' The quality of mercy is not strained : 

It droppetli as the gentle dew from Heaven 

Upon tlie place beneath. It is twice bless'd. 

It blesseth liim that gives, and liim that takes," : 



cnAP. 58] PREJUDICES AGAINST I'OREIGXERS. 317 

to hei' fears. They mutinied. They demanded with energy 
that redress for which they had before supplicated. It was a 
noble procedure. I hope in all similar cases, similar measures 
will be pursued. 

The intelligence was carried to the British camp. It there 
spread joy and gladness. Lord Howe hoped that a period had 
arrived to the " rebellion^'' as it would have been termed. There 
was a glorious opportunity of crushing the half-formed embryo 
of the republic. He counted largely on the indignation, and on 
the resentment of the natives of " the emerald isle.'''' He knew 
the irascibility of their tempers. He calculated on the diminu- 
tion of the strength of *' the rebels ^'>'> and accession to the num- 
bers of the royal army. Messengers were despatched to the m^u- 
tineers. They had carte blanche. They were to allure the poor 
Hibernians to return, like prodigal children, from feeding on 
husks, to the plentiful fold of their royal master. Liberality 
herself presided over Howe's offers. Abundant supplies of pro- 
visions — comfortable clothing to their heart's desire — all arrears 
of pay — bounties — ^and pardon for past offences, were offei^ed. 
There was, however, no hesitation among these poor, neglected 
warriors. They refused to renounce poverty, nakedness, suffer, 
ing, and ingratitude. The splendid temptations were held out 
in vain. There was no Judas, no Arnold there. They seiz- 
ed the tempters, and trampled on their shining ore. They 
sent them to their general's tent. The miserable wretches 
paid their forfeit lives for attempting to seduce a band of rag- 
ged, forlorn, and deserted, but illustrious heroes. We prate 
about Roman, about Grecian patriotism. One half of it is false. 
In the other half, there is nothing that excels this noble trait, 
which is worthy the pencil of a West or a Trumbull. 

Let me reverse the scene. Let me introduce some characters 
of a different stamp. Who is that miscreant yonder — dark, de- 
signing, haggard — .treachery on his countenance — a dagger in 
his hand? Is it not Arnold ? It is. Was he an Irishman? No. 
He was not of the despised cast, the foreigners. He was an 
Amei'ican. Neither Irish nor Fi"ench blood flowed in his veins. 

Behold, there is another. Who is he, that, Judas like, is 
pocketing the wages of corruption, for which he has sold his 
couiitry? Is he an Irishman? No. He is a native American. 
His name is Silas Deane. 

But surely that numerous band of ruflfians, and plunderers, 
and murderers, who are marauding and robbing — who are shoot- 
ing down poor farmers, and their wives, and their children, are 
'•'■foreigners,''^ It is impossible they can be natives. No na- 
tive American would perpetrate such barbarities on his unofiend- 
ing fellow citizens. It is an error. They are refugees and to-, 
ries — all native born. 



31S POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 58. 

I am nn Irishman. With the canaille in superfine cloths and 
silks, as well as with the canaille in rags and tatters, this is a sub- 
ject of reproach. Every man, woman, or child, base enough to 
attach disgrace to any person on account of his country, is 
worthy of the most sovereign, the most ineflable contempt. Let 
them move in what sphere they may, whether in coffee-houses, 
or ball-rooms, or palaces — in hovels, or garrets, or cellars — they 

are groveling, sordid, and contemptible. To express the 

whole in two words — pity there were not words more forcible — 
they are MERE CANAILLE. 

I glory, I feel a pride in the name of Irishman. There is 
not under the canopy of Heaven, another nation, which, ground 
to the earth as Ireland has been, for six hundred years, under so 
vile a proconsular government — almost every viceroy a Verrcs 
, a government, whose fundamental maxim is, " divide and de- 
stroy" — whose existence depends on fomenting the hostility of 
the Protestant against the Presbyterian and Catholic, and that of 
the Catholic against the Protestant and Presbyterian — there is 
not, I say, another nation, which, under such circumstances, 
would have preserved the slightest ray of respectability of cha- 
racter. 

A book now lies before me, which, in a few lines, with great 
naiveic, devclopes the horrible system pursued by England in 
the government, of Ireland, to excite the jealousy of one part 
of the nation against the other. A schemer, of the name of 
Wood; had influence enough to procure a patent for supplying 
Ireland with copper coin in the year 1724, whereby he would 
ha^e amassed an immense fortunfe by fleecing the nation of its 
gold and silver in return for his base copper. Dean Swift ex- 
posed the intended fraud with such zeal and ability, that he 
aroused the public indignation at the attempt, and thus the pro- 
jector was fairly defeated, and his patent revoked. Primate 
Boulter, who was at that period prime minister of Ireland, in a 
letter to the Duke of Newcastle, deplores the consequences of 
this fraudulent attempt, in uniting parties -which^ till then^ had 
been embittered enemies. This grand dignitary of the church 
regarded a cessation of discord and hostility among the oppress- 
ed Irish, as a most alarming event ! pregnant with danger to the 
authority of England ! But, reader, I will let him speak for him- 
self : 

" The people of every relipon, country, and party here, are alike setag'ainst 
Wood's half-pence : and, their agreement in this has had AVERY UNHAPPV 
INFLUENCE ON THE AFFAIRS OF THE NATION, by bringing on intima- 
cies betiveen I'api^t^ andJacohites, and the JVhigs, tvho before had no correspondence 
luith them ! ! .'" Sec Boulter's Letters, vol. 1, page 7. Dubhn edition, 1770. 

Notwithstanding all the grinding, the debasing circumstances 
that militate against Ireland and Irishmen, there 's no country 
in Christendom, which has not witnessed tlie heroism, the gene- 



CHAP. 58.] PREJUDICES AGAINST FOREIGNERS. ^* 319 

rosity, the liberality of Irishmen — none, where, notwithstanding 
the atrocious calumnies propagated against them by their op- 
pressors, they have not forced their way through the thorny and 
briery paths of prejudice and jealousy, to honour, to esteem, to 
respect. 

It has been said, that they are in this country turbulent, and 
refractory, and disorderly, and factious. This charge is as base 
as those by whom it is advanced. There is more turbulence, 
more faction, more disaffection in Boston, whose population is 
only 33,000, and which has as few foreigners as, perhaps, any 
town in the world, than there are in the two states of Pennsyl- 
vania and New York, with a population of 1,700,000, and which 
contain probably two-thirds of all the native Irishmen in this 
country. While native-born citizens, some of whom pride them- 
selves on Indian blood flowing in their veins, and others who 
boast of a holy descent from those " sainted pilgriins^'' whom 
British persecution drove to the howling wilderness, were sacri- 
legiously and wickedly attempting to destroy the glorious (would 
to Heaven I could say, the immortal) fabric of our unparalleled 
form of government ; of the Irishmen in this country, high and 
low, ninety-nine of every hundred were strenuously labouring to 
ward off the stroke. 

1 said, there is no country that owes more to foreigners than 
the United States. I owe it to myself and to my reader, not to 
let a point of such importance rest on mere assertion. Of the 
men who acquired distinction in the cabinet, or in the field, du- 
ring the revolutionary war, a very large proportion were fo- 
reigners. In " the times that tried men's souls," they were 
gladly received, and courteously treated. Their services were 
then acceptable. But now, like tlie squeezed orange, they are 
to be thrown aside, and trodden under foot. 

The illustrious La Fayette, general I.ee, general (iates, gen- 
eral Stewart, the inestimable general Montgomery, general Pu- 
laski, general Kosciusko, baron Steuben, baron de Kalb, general 
M'Pherson, general St. Clair, genei-al Hamilton, Robert Morris, 
the amiable Charles Thompson, judge Wilson, baron de Glau- 
bec, Thomas Paine, Thomas Fitzsimons, William Findley, and 
hundreds of others, eminent during the revolution, were fo- 
reigners. Many of them were not excelled tor services and 
merits by any native Americai, whether the blood of a dingy 
Pocahontas crawled through his veins, or whether he descended 
in a right line from any of " the Pilgrims" that waged war against 
the potent Massasoit. 

Since the preceding pages were written, I have met with a 
pamphlet of great merit, written by one of the authors of 
*' Salinagundi," from which I quote the following statement 
Avith pleasure : as affording an able vindication of the Irish, and 



320 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 58 

a fair sketch of the oppressions and wrongs they have endured. 
In the name of the nation I thank the writer for this generous 
effusion, of which the vaUxe is gready enhanced, by the extreme 
rarity of such liberality towards Ireland or Irishmen on this side 
of the Adantic. The work has, moreover, the merit of being 
an excellent defence of this country against the abuse of British 
critics. It is earnestly recommended to the perusal of every 
American who feels for the honour of his country. 

" The history of Ireland's unhappy connexion with England, exhibits, from 
first to last, a detail of the most persevering, galling, grinding, insulting, and 
systematic oppression, to be found any where except among the helots of Sparta. 
There is not a national feeling that has not been insulted and trodden under 
foot ; a national right that has not been withheld, until fear forced it from the 
grasp of England ; or a dear, or ancient prejudice, that has not been violated in 
that abased country. As Christians, the people of Ireland have been denied, 
under penalties and disqualifications, the exercise of the rites of the Catholic 
religion, venerable for its antiqiiitt/ ; admirable for its unity ; and consecrated by 
the belief of some of the best men that ever breathed. As men they have been de- 
prived of the common rights of British subjects under the pretext that they 
were incapable of enjoying them : which pretext had no other foundation than 
their resistance of oppression, only the more severe by being sanctioned by the 
laws. ENGLAND FmST DENIED THEM THE MEANS OF IMPROVE- 
MENT ; AND THEN INSULTED THEJI WITH THE IMPUTATION OF 
BARBARISM." 

While on the point of closing this page, I have been furnished 
with a noble effusion on this subject, from very high authority. 
Its sterling merits, and its justice towards the nation I have 
dared to vindicate, will warrant its insertion, and amply com- 
pensate the perusal. 

«*«*******« j^ dependency of Great Brltaiii, Irchmd has long Ian- 
gidshed under oppression reprobated by humanity, and discountenanced by just 
policy. It would arg-ue penury of human feelings.and ignorance of human rights, 
io submit patiently to those oppressions. Ce/ituries have tfitnessed the struggles oj 
Ireland; but with only partial success. Rebellions and insurrections have conti- 
nued with but short intervals of tranqui!lit_v. Many of the Irish, like the French, 
are tlie hci'cditary foes of Great Britain. Jlmerica has opened her arms to the op- 
pressed of all nations. No people have availed themselves of the asylum with 
more alacrity, or in greater numbers than the Irish. HIGH IS THE MEED OF 
PRAISE, RICH THE REWARD, WHICH IRISHMEN HAVE MERITED 
FROM THE GRATITUDE OF AMERICA. AS HEROES AND STATES- 
MEN, THEY HONOUR THEIR ADOPTED COUNTRY." 

The above sublime and correct tribute of praise, is extracted 
from the Federal RcpubUca?!^ of June 22, 1812, and forms part 
of an unanimous address agreed to by the /f^/era/ members of 
the legislature of Maryland, to the people of that state. 

I have been highly and very unexpectedly gratified to find 
another advocate and defender of the Irish nation, since the pub- 
lication of my former edition. Mr. Coleman, the editor of the 
Kczv-Tork Eveiiiuiy' Post^ bears this strong testimony in favoui 
of that nation, "in his paper of the seventh of March, 1815 : 

* See pamphlet entitled " The United States and England," page 99. 



CHAP. 59] ADDRESS TO THE FEDERALISTS 321 

" JVo character is more eniimable and respectable than that of the real Irish gen- 
tleman : and those ivho have come to reside among us, are distinguished by the ur- 
banity of their manners, and the liberality of their minds." 

CHAPTER LIX. 

Address to the federalists of the United States.^ 

GENTLEMEN, 

An attentive perusal of the preceding pages, can, I hope, 
hardly have failed to place me beyond the suspicion of the des- 
picable vice, flattery — and must give to my commendation at 
least the merit of sincerity. 

After these introductory remarks, I make no scruple to declare 
my decided conviction, that in private life, I know of no party, 
in ancient or modern history, more entitled to respect, to esteem, 
to regard, than the American federalists in general, in all the 
social relations, of husbands, parents, brothers, children, and 
friends. There are exceptions. But they are as few as apply to 
any body equally numerous. Political prejudice, or the widest 
difference of opinions, has never so far obscured my visual ray, 
as to prevent me from discerning, or my reasoning faculty from 
acknowledging this strong, this honourable truth — the more de- 
cisive in its nature, from being pronounced by a political oppo- 
nent. 

But, fellow-citizens, after this frank declaration in your praise 
as to private life, and for private virtue, let me freely discuss 
your public conduct. , Believe me, I mean not to off"end. I trust 
I shall not. I address you the words of truth. The crisis forbids 
the use of ceremony. I hope you will give the subject a serious 
consideration — and receive with indulgence what emanates from 
candour and friendship. 

I believe there is not to be found, in the widest range of his- 
tory, another instance of a party so enlightened, so intelligent, 
so respectable, and in private life so virtuous, yielding them- 
selves up so blindly, so submissively, and with so complete an 
abandonment of the plainest dictates of reason and common 
sense, into the hands of leaders so undeserving of their confi- 
dence. In and after the days of Washington, you stood on a 
proud eminence— on high and commanding ground. You were 
friends of order and good government. You were trem- 
blingly alive to the honour of your countr}'-. You Identified it 
with your own. But it is difficult to find a more lamentable change 
in the conduct of any body of men than has taken place with 
your leaders. The mind can hardly conceive a greater contrast 

* Tliis chapter was written, let it be observed, in November, 1814. I covild 
not alter it so as to suit it to e.xjsting- circumstances. I have tlierefore auowed 
it to remain as a testimony of the sUite of the nation at that period. 



322 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 59. 

than between a genuine Washingtonian federalist of 1790, 1, 2, 
3, 4, 5, and 6, and the Bostonian, who, covered with the pre- 
tended mantle of Washingtonian federalism, destroys the credit 
of his own government, and collects the metallic medium of the 
nation, to foster the armies preparing to attack and lay it waste. 
Never were holy terms so prostituted. Washington from Heaven 
looks down with indignation at such a vile perversion of the au- 
thority of his name. 

Let me request your attention to a few facts — and to reflec- 
tions and queries, resulting from them — 

I. Your proceedings and your views are eulogized in Mon- 
treal, Quebec, Halifax, London, and Liverpool. The Courier, 
and the Times, and all the other government papers are loud 
and uniform in your praise. — This is aii awful fact^ and ought 
to make you pause in your career. 

IL Tour party rises as your country sinks. It sinks as your 
country rises. This is another awful fact. It cannot fail to 
rend the heart of every public-spirited man among you. For the 
love of the God of Peace — by the shade of Washington — by 
that country which contains all you hold dear, I adjure you to 
weigh well this sentence — you sink as your cowitry rises. Yes, 
it is indubitably so. It is a terrific and appalling truth. And 
you rise as that desponding^ lacerated^ perishing^ betrayed coun- 
try sinks. " I would rather be a dog, and bay the moon," than 
stand in this odious predicament. 

III. Had there been two or three surrenders like general 
Hull's — had Copenhagenism befallen New York, or Philadelphia, 
or Baltimore, or Charleston — or had our Constitutions, and 
United States, and Presidents, and Constellations, been sunk or 
carried into Halifax — and our Porters, and Biddies, and Bain- 
bridges, and Perrys, and Hulls, been killed or taken prisoners, 
your leaders would have been crowned with complete success. 
They would have been wafted on a spring tide to that power 
which is " the God of their idolatry." Every eve?it that sheds 
lustre on the anns of America is to them a defeat. It removes to a 
distance the prize to which their eyes and efforts are directed. 
But every circianstance that entails disgrace or distress oji the 
country^ xvhether it be bankruptcy^ defeat^ treachery^ or cowar- 
dice^ is auspicious to their views, 

IV. Never has the sun in his glorious course^ beheld so esti- 
mable, so respectable, so enlightened a party as you are, in the 
frightful situation, in which the ambition of your leaders, and 
your own tame, thoughtless, inexplicable acquiescence have 
placed you. 

V. By fulminations from the pulpit — by denunciations from 
the press — by a profuse use of British government bills — by un- 



CHAP. 59] ADDRESS TO THE FEDERALISTS. 323 

usual, unnecessary, hostile, and oppressive drafts for specie on 
the New York banks ; and by various other unholy, treasonable 
and wicked means, the leaders of your party in Boston have 
reduced the government to temporary bankruptcy ; have pro_ 
duced the same effect on the banks ; have depreciated the stocks 
and almost every species of property 20 to JO per cent. 

VI. These treasonable operations have served the cause of 
England more effectually than lord Wellington could have done 
with 30,000 of his bravest veterans. They have produced in- 
calculable, and, to many, remediless distress. 

VII. After having' thus treasonably destroyed the credit of the 
government^ one of their strongest accusations is its bankrnptcij.^ 

VIII. A man who tiesfanother, neck and heels, and gags him 
might, with equal jusiicg^ blow out his brains for not singing 
Yankee doodle, or danciwg a fandango, as those who produce 
bankruptcy inculpate the bankrupt with his forlorn and despe- 
rate circumstances. 

IX. There is no other country in the world, where these pro- 
ceedings would not be punished severely — in many thev would 
be capitally. Their guilt is enormous, clear, and indisputable. 
They strike at the safety, and even the existence, of society. 

X. By the sedition law,j enacted by some of these very men, 
and their followers, heavy fines, and tedious imprisonment, were 
awarded against offences incomparably inferior. 

XI. While you submit to leaders, whose career is so iniqui- 
tous, were you in private life as pure as archangels, you partake 
largely of the guilt of those whom you uphold ; whose power of 
destruction depends on your support ; and who would sink into 
insignificance, but for your countenance. 

XII. If the pretext, or even the strong belief, on the part of 
the minority, that a war, or any other measure, is unjust, can 
warrant such a Jacobinical, seditious, and treasonable opposition 
as the present war has experienced, no government can exist. 
The minority in all countries, uniformly denounce all the mea- 
sures they have opposed, as unjust, wicked, unholy, or uncon- 
stitutional — or all united. 

XII. The most unerring characteristic of a deperate fac- 
tion, is an uniform opposition to all the measures proposed by its 

* It is impossible for languag'e to convey the contempt and abhorrence that 
are due to the canting, whining speeches delivered in congress on the bank- 
ruptcy of the government, by the men who were deeply guilty of producing it; 
whose treasonable efforts have been crowned with success ; who have largely 
contributed to blast the most cheering prospects that Heaven ever vouchsafed 
to accord to any of the human race. ^The tears thus shed, are exactly typified 
by those that so plentifully fall from the voracious crocodUe over the prey he 
is going to devour. 

f See chapter 3. 



324 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 59. 

opponents^ whether good or had^ and without offering substitutes. 
The more dangerous the crisis, and the more necessary the mea- 
sures, the more infallible the criterion. 

XIV. This characteristic exactly and most indisputably ap- 
plies to your leaders. This country is on the brink of perdition. 
Yet they have opposed and defeated every measure devised for 
our salvation. They appear determined to deliver us tied hand 
apd foot into the power of the enemy, unless they can seize the 
reins of government. 

XV. You profess to be disciples of Washington. The title is 
a glorious one. Let us test the practice of your leaders by the 
holy maxims of Washington. He raised his voice against — warn- 
ed you to shun — and pronounced the strongest condemnation 
upon 

1. All obstructions of what kind soever, to the execution of 
the laws ; 

2. All combinations to direct, controul, or awe the constituted 
authorities ; 

3. All insidious efforts to excite hostility hetxveen the different 
sections of the United States ; 

4. And, in the most emphatical manner, cdl attempts to dis- 
solve the union. 

XVI. But the leaders of your party, particularly in Boston, 
have 

1. Openly obstructed the execution of the laws : 

2. Combined to controul the constituted authorities : 

3. Actually excited as dire hostility to the southern states, 
in the breasts of those under their influence in the east- 
ern, as exists between France and England ; and 

4. Been constantly endeavouring, by a series of the most in- 
flammatory and violent publications, to prepare the eastern 
people for a dissolution of the union. 

XVIL In fine, all the steps they take, and their whole course 
of proceedings, are in direct hostility with the c/eed, the advice, 
and the practice of Washington. 

XVIII. While you follow such leaders, you may profess to 
be disciples of Washington : but an impartial world will reject 
your claim. 

XIX. Suppose your leaders at Washington succeed in driving 
Mr. Madison, and the other public functionaries from office, and 
seize upon the reins of government themselves, what a melan- 
choly disgraceful triumph would it not be, to raise your party 
on the ruins of your form of government. 

XX. Such an usurpation could not fail to produce civil war. 

XXI. If your party set the example of such atrocious vio- 
lence, can you persuade yourselves that the *•'■ poisoned chalice'''* 



KHAP. 59.J ADDRESS TO FEDERALISTS. 225 

will not, at no very distant period, be " returned to your own 
lips ?" 

XXII. You profess to desire peace. I firmly believe you do. 
But are divisions, and distractions, and envenomed factions, 
and threatened insurrections, the seed to sow for a harvest of 
peace ? 

XXIII. All the seditious and treasonable measures adopted in 
Boston and elsewhere, to harass, cripple, and embarrass your 
government, have, previous to the war, had an inevitable tenden- 
cy to enable Great Britain to regulate, controul, and restrict 
your commerce — and to set at defiance all the attempts to pro- 
cure redress — and, since the war, their tendency has been to 
prolong its ravages. 

XXIV. Are you prepared — can you reconcile yourselves, to 
incur all the risk — to suffer all the ruin that a revolution will in- 
fallibly produce, to enable Rufus King, Timothy Pickering, 
Christopher Gore, Cyrus King, and Daniel Webster, to seize 
the reins of government, and exile *•' to Elba''' — or execute with 
Cyrus King's celebrated " halter'''' your venerable fii'st magis- 
trate ? Suppose they succeed, what will be the advantage to you 
individually? 

I plead not, fellow citizens, for democracy ; I plead not fof 
federalism. Their differences have sunk into utter insignificance. 
Were the contest between them^ I should not have stained a sin- 
gle sheet of paper. I plead against jacobinism; I plead against 
faction ; I plead against attempts to " overawe and controul the 
constituted authorities." I plead the cause of order ; of govern- 
ment ; of civil and religious liberty. I plead for the best consti- 
tution the woiid ever saw ; I plead for your honour as a party, 
which is "Vi the utmost jeopardy. I plead for your estates, which 
are going to ruin. I plead for your bleeding country, which 
lies prostrate and defenceless, pierced with a thousand wounds. 
I plead for your aged parents, for your tender children, for your 
beloved wives, for your posterity, whose fate depends upon your 
conduct at this momentous crisis. All, all, loudly implore you 
to withdraw your support from those who are leagued for their 
destruction, and who make you instruments to accomplish their 
unholy purposes. You are on the verge of a gaping vortex, 
ready to swallow up yourselves and your devoted countr)' . To 
advance a single step may be inevitable perdition. To the right 
about. It is the path to honour, to safety, to glory. Aid in ex- 
tricating your country from danger. And then if you select calm, 
and dispassionate, and moderate candidates for public office, 
there can be no doubt of your success. I am firmly persuaded 
that nothing but the intemperate and unholy violence of your 
leaders has prevented vou from having that share of influence 
O. B. 4r. 



326 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH, [chap. 59- 

in the councils of the nation to which your wealth, your num- 
bers, your talents, and your services, give you so fair a claim. 

The constitution may be imperfect. Every thing human par- 
takes of human infirmity and htiman error. It has provided a 
proper mode of amendment. As soon as peace is restored, and 
the fermentation of public passions has subsided, let the real or 
supposed defects be brought fairly forward, and submitted to the 
state legislatures, or to a convention, as may be judged proper. 
But while the vessel of state is on rocks and quicksands, let us not 
madly spend the time, which ought to be devoted to secure her 
and our salvation, in the absurd and ill-timed attempt to amend, 
or, in other words, to destroy the charter party under which she 

sails. 

May the Almighty Disposer of events inflame your hearts ; 
enlighten your understanding ; and direct you to the proper 
course to steer at this momentous crisis ! And may he extend 
to our common country that gracious blessing which brought 
her safely through one revolution, without entailing on us the 
frightful curses inseparable from another ! 

PhUad, Nov. 1814, 



POSTSCRIPT. 



January 9, 1815. 

As the apprehensions on the subject of a dissolution of 
the union which are repeatedly expressed in this book, and 
which have led to its publication, are treated by many as 
chimerical ; and as the result of the Hartford convention, 
just published, appears to countenance the idea, that the 
danger is overrated, the writer, in justification of his fears, 
simply states, that even admitting that the leading men to the 
eastward do not contemplate a dissolution of the union, it 
does not by any means follow that we are safe from such an 
event, while the public passions are so constantly excited, 
and kept in such a high state of fermentation. It is an easy 
process to raise commotions, and provoke seditions. But to al- 
lay them is always arduous ; often impossible. Ten men may 
create an insurrection ; which one hundred, of equal talents 
and influence, may be utterly unable to suppress. The wea- 
pon of popular discontent, easily wielded at the outset, be- 
comes, after it has arrived at maturity, too potent for the fee- 
ble grasp of the agents by whom it has been called into exist- 
ence. It hurls them and those against whom it was first 
employed, into the same profound abyss of misery and de= 
struction. — -Whoever requires illustration of this theory, has 
only to open any page of the history of France from the era 
of the national convention till the commencement of the reign 
of Bonaparte. If he be not convinced by the perusal, " he 
would not be convinced, though one were to rise from tlie 
dead," 



APPENDIX 



TO THE SIXTH EDITION. 



Th£ favourable reception this work has experienced, in- 
duces me to make a few additions to it, which I respectfully 
submit to my fellow-citizens. 

They embrace topics mostly untouched, or at least slightly 
handled in the original work. Some of them are of vital im- 
portance to the dearest interests of the nation. 

In this portion of the publication, as well as in what pre- 
cedes it, I have endeavoured to divest myself of any undue 
bias. I have pursued truth undeviatingly, and regardless of 
consequences. How far I have succeeded, the reader must 
judge. 

I request a candid and fair examination of the various 
subjects — and that my errors, whatever they be, may be as- 
cribed to any other cause than an intention to mislead, of 
which I feel myself utterly incapable. 



M. C. 



September, 1815. 



CHAP. 60. ORDERS IN COUXeiF,. 329 



CHAPTER LX. 

Orders 171 Council. Restrictive system. Impolicy of the British 
ministry. Abstract of the examinations before the House of 
Commons. Ruinous effects of the policy of Great Britain on 
the vital interests of that nation. 

That the violation of the rights of the United States by the 
orders in council, required to be resisted by our government, 
will not be denied by the most strenuous opposer of the ad- 
ministration. And that every peaceable means of obtaining re- 
dress, ought to be fully tried before a recourse to war, will be 
admitted. 

Appeals to the honour and justice of the British government 
had been repeatedly made. Our ministers had in vain presented 
various remonstrances on the subject. No redress had been 
vouchsafed. Our injuries had increased in violence. Other 
means were necessar)\ Perhaps no nation, but our own, whose 
policy is eminently pacific, would have hesitated on the subject. 
War — horrible, destructive war, would early have been the re- 
sort. But with a most laudable regard for human life, and hu- 
man happiness — with a view to prevent the carnage, the demo- 
rahzation of war, our government had recourse to various paci- 
fic measures to enforce redress. 

Great Britain is a manufacturing and commercial nation. 
Upon her manufactures depends in a great degree her commerce. 
Both ai-e indispensible not merely towards her prosperity, but 
her security, her very existence. We furnished her with the 
most important market in the world. Our trade was immensely 
valuable. And as we asked but simple justice, it was beUeved, 
and on the strongest ground of reason and policy, that it could 
be rendered her interest to cease her gross violations of our 
rights. The effort was most meritorious. It is worthy of fu- 
ture imitation. 

Our imports from Great Britain had risen to the enormous 
sum of above 50,000,000 of dollars* in a year. It had been 

* By a report of Alexander Hamlltoti, esq. secretary of the treasury, dated 
December 23, 1793, it appears that at this very early period, in the infancy of 
our government, we had imported from the British dominions the precedin.e: 
year ...----- §15,285,428 

Whereas our exports were only ... - 9,ooj,41o 

Leaving in favour of Great Britain a balance of - - §5,922,012 

Our exports to the French dominions for the same year were ^'^'^oq'q^o 
And the imports only 2,0m,S^'6 

Leaving a balance in favour of the United States of - g2,210,387 



330 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cuap. 60. 

Steadily improving. The punctuality of our importers had ex- 
teeded that of the other customers of England. A considera- 
ble part of the trade had for some time been transacted for ready 
money. 

As a large portion of the continent of Europe had been, as it 
were, hermetically sealed against British trade, it was rationally 
presumed, that if the alternative were held out to Great Britain, 
either to cease the violation of our rights, or to forfeit our trade, 
she would certainly adopt the former. Fatuity of the blindest 
character alone could have hesitated in the choice. 

It is doubtful whether any administration of any age or nation, 
ever displayed a higher degree of outrageous folly and dis- 
regard of the vital interests of its own country. Every motive 
of prudence and policy dictated to England, as an imperious and 
paramount duty, to treat the United States with kindness, libe- 
rality and attention. Every fair means ought to have been em- 
ployed to conciliate our citizens, and to induce them to bury the 
animosities of the revolution in utter oblivion. Such a liberal 
course of proceeding would have been productive of immense 
advantages to her dearest interests. 

The trade of this country was the main buttress that propped 
up the tottering fabric of British paper credit, and furnished 
means to replenish the veins of the body commercial and finan- 
cial, which had been so ruinously phlebotomized by the lancet 
of subsidies to foreign powers, and the enormous expenses of 
war, and which had suffered so much by the starvation of the 
continental system. 

It requires but a cursory examination of the whole tenor of 
the conduct of England, towards this country, to be satisfied 
that it has been steadily and uniformly the reverse of what a 
wise statesman would have adopted. The predatory and lawless 
orders in council, so clandestinely issued against American com- 
merce, " preij'rng upon the unprotected property of a friendly 
power,''''* — the wanton, cruel, barbarous, and unprecedented sei- 
zures of our citizens on the high seas — the countenanced, the 
flagitious forgery of our ships' papers, advertised in their Ga- 
zettes, and defended in parliament — the blockade of our ports, 
and capture of vessels bound in and out — the shameful viola- 
tions of our rights of sovereignty within the limits declared sa- 
cred by the laws of nations — the murder of Pearce in one of our 
harbours — and the total neglect of all applications for redress of 
these grievances,! were as utterly impolitic as they were unjust 

* See Boston memorial, si;^ned by James Lloyd, jun. David Green, Arnold 
Welles, David Soars, John Coffin Jones, George Cabot, and Thomas H. Perkins, 
for and in behalf of the whole body of the mercantile citizens of that town, 
page 88. 

f Itedress of grievances was not only never afforded — but in almost every 
instance the officers who perpetrated the greatest outrages, were absolutely 
promoted. 



CHAP. 60.] BRITISH IMPOLICY. 331 

and flagitious. It is impossible to conceive a course of con- 
duct more completely marked by an utter destitution of reason, 
common sense, justice, regard to the law of nations, or a sound 
and enlarged view of the true and vital interests of the British 
nation. It requires no sagacity to foresee the sentence history 
will pronounce on this miserable, this harassing system. Un- 
qualified reprobation awaits it, as well as its authors and abet- 
tors. It was calculated to sour and alienate the friends of Eng- 
land in this country, and to increase the hostility of her enemies 
— to treble the influence of the latter, and proportionably to di- 
minish that of the former. 

The conduct of P'rance had been in many points so utterly 
indefensible, so great a violation of our rights, and of the plain- 
est dictates of justice, that had Great Britain conducted tOAvards 
us with even a moderate share of decency or propriety, she 
might have readily arrayed this nation in hostility against her 
grand enemy seven years ago. The sole reason that prevented an 
earlier declaration of war against one or other of the belligerents, 
was, that it would have been madness to have attacked both ; 
and each had so atrociously outraged and injured us, that, in the 
strong, clear, and just language of Governor Griswold, " such 
had been the character of both, that no circumstance could justijy 
a preference to either^'' This important and irresistible decla- 
ration was, as already stated, made to the legislature of Con- 
necticut, on the 12th of May, 1812. 

The annals of commerce do not, I believe, furnish an instance 
of one nation enjoying so lucrative a trade with another, as Eng- 
land maintained with this country, as well for extent, as for 
immensity of advantage. We furnished her with the most va- 
luable raw materials for her manufactures, and received in re- 
turn for these materials, the manufactured articles, wrought up 
often at 10, 20, 30 or 40 fold advance of value. It is hardly 
possible to conceive a more gainful commerce. A Sully, or a 
Colbert, or a Ximenes, or a Chatham, would have cherished 
such a trade as "• the apple of his eye'"' — and shunned with awe 
every thing in the least calculated to impair or destroy it. 

For every valuable purpose, we were literally colonies of 
Great Britain. That is to say, she derived from us all the ad- 
vantages that nations have ever derived from colonies, without 
the expense of fleets or armies for our protection. And so strong 
has been and is the partiality of a large proportion of our citizens 
for English habits, and English manners, and English fashions; 
and such is the devotion of a number of our presses, and our li- 
terary men, and our pulpits, to the defence and justification of 
England, that it required but little care to have maintained her 
influence here unimpaired. If, notwithstanding such an irrita- 
ting, and insulting, and predatory system as she pursued, she 



oo 



32 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 60. 



still retained so many warm, zealous, and influential partizans, 
what might she not have done, had she pursued a system of 
kindness and conciliation ! 

Her ministers abandoned the noble, lawful, mimense, and rich 
trade with this country, for a miserable trade of smuggling, not 
one-tenth in amount or value, and resting upon the pestiferous 
and hateful basis of forgery and perjury ! Alas ! that the af- 
fairs of mighty nations should fall into such hands ! 

I cannot resist the temptation of enriching this page— of em- 
balming it with the glowing eloquence of Henry Brougham, 
Esq. M. P. on this inexhaustible topic. 

" Good God ! the incurable perverseness of human folly ! always striving after 
things that are beyond their reach, of doubtful worth, and discreditable pur- 
suit and neglecting- objects of immense value, because, in addition to tlieir own 
importance, they have one recommendation which would make meaner things 
desirable— that they can be easily obtained, and honestly, as weU as justly en- 
ioyed ' It is this miserable, shifting, doubtful, hateful traffic, that we j>refer, to 
'the srire, re^tilar, increasing, honest gains of American commerce ,- to a trade 
which is' placed beyond the enemy's reach, which, besides enriching ourselves 
in peace and honour, only benefits those who are our natural friends, over whom 
he has no controul," * * " which supports at once all that remains of liberty 
bevo'nd the seas, and gives hfe and vigour to its main pillar within the realm, 
the manufactures and commerce of England."* _ 

" I have been drawn aside from the course of my statement respecting tlie 
importance of the commerce wliich we are sacrificing to those mere whimsies, 
1 can call them nothing else, respecting our abstract rights. That commerce is 
llie whole American market, a branch of trade in comparison of which, -whether yon 
regard its extent, its certainty, or its progressive increase, every other si7iks into 
irtsimificance. It is a market which in ordinary times may take oflT about thir- 
teeii millions] -worth of our manufactures .- and in steadiness and regularity it is 

" 'rhe returns indeed are as sure, and the bad debts as few, as they used to 
be even in the trade of Holland. These returns are also grown much more 
speedy Of this you have ample proof before you, from the witnesses who 
have been examined, who have all said that the payment was now as quick as 
in any other line— and that the Americans often prefen-ed making ready money 
bargains for sake of the discount."§ 

To return to the course pursued here. The intercourse be- 
tween England and this country %vas prohibited by an act passed 
on the 1st of March, 180y, commonly called the non, intercourse 
law, for the vital clauses of which I refer the reader to chap. 28. 
A repeal, or modification of the orders in council, so as to cease 
violating the rights of the United States, was to authorise the 
president to restore the intercourse. 

This mild and laudable mode of procuring redress, which en- 
titles its authors to the unqualified approbationof their fellow ci- 
tizens and posterity — and to which history will do the justice 
that ungrateful cotcmporaries have denied, was treated with 
ridicule and contempt in this country, as futile and imbecile, and 
utterly ineffectual in its operation upon England. 

* Speech in parliament, June 16, 1812, Philadelphia edition, page 39. 

•f- Nearly sixty millions of dollars, 

i Speech, page 34. 

4 Idem, page oSr. 



CHAP. 60.1 ORDERS IN COUNCIL. i 3^ 

With a blindness, folly, and madness, of which there are 
few parallels, the British ministry persevered in their unjust sysr 
tern towards this country, notwithstanding its destructive effects 
on the vital interests of their own. Their most valuable and im- 
portant manufactures were paralized — their manufacturers redu- 
ced to beggary and ruin — a regular trade, amounting to above 
50,000,000 of dollars, annually, annihilated — and the sources 
dried up, from whence they principally derived the means of 
subsidizing foreign powers to fight their battles. 

In vain did the wisest and best of the people of England en- 
ter their most solemn protest against the orders in council — that 
miserable system, on which egregious folly and rampant injus- 
tice were stamped in the most legible characters. In vain did 
the starving workmen — ihe impoverished manufacturers imploi'e 
the administration for relief. They were deaf as the adder, whose 
ears are closed " to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so 
wisely.'' 

At length in the spring of 1812, the public sufferings had so 
far increased — and the clamour for redress was so universal, that 
the British ministry were impetuously driven to allow an enquiry 
to be instituted in pai-liament into the operation and effects of 
the orders in council. This measure was adopted with an ill 
grace, and not until the most serious and alarming riots and in- 
surrections had occurred among the workmen and labourers in 
several parts of England, 

The examination commenced on the 29th of April, 1812, and 
continued until the 13th of the following June. Witnesses were 
examined from most parts of England. The evidence uniform- 
ly and undeviatingly concurred to prove how transcendently im- 
portant was the American trade to the manufacturers of Great 
Britain — how awfully calamitous the annihilation of that trade 
had been — and the miserable policy of an adherence to the orders 
in council. All this was apparent and undeniable from the very 
first day of the examination^ could there have beeii any previous 
doubt on the subject. 

The minutes of the examination, as publishedby order of par- 
liament, form a ponderous folio volume of nearly 700 pages, and 
exhibit a frightful picture of the results of the sinister and absurd 
policy which dictated the orders in council. 

To the United States this is a subject of immense Importance. 
Our form of government — our dearest interests — the hahits, and 
inclinations, and manners of our people, lead us to pursue a paci- 
fic policy. And if there be an effectual instrument, whereby, 
without war, we can extort justice from nations which violate 
our rights, or offer us outrage, it affords additional and invalua.. 
ble security for the permanence of the blessed state of peace. — 
While we can make it pre-eminently the interest of those nations 
with which we have intercourse, to reciprocate kindness and jus- 
O. B. 44 



5U POLmCAL OLIVE BRANCH. [ghap. 60. 

t'lce, and refrain from injustice and depredation, we may reason- 
ably calculate upon their pursuing that desirable course. 

To evince, therefore, the efficacy of the so-much abused re- 
strictive system, I subjoin a few extracts from the evidence 
given before the house of commons, of its effects on the dearest 
interests of Great Britain. 

April 30, 1812. 
Mr. THOMAS POTTS, merchant of Binningham.—Yrom 20,U00 to 25,000 
men in liirmiiig'liani, who have no7v only half work. General state of the town ex- 
tremely depressed, and the distress nniversal. jManufactnrers harte been keeping 
their men employed in creating- stock nearly to the extent of their capital, and many 
of them are in consequence in extreme difficulties. If no favourable cliange takes 
place, the manufacturers will be oblig-ed within two months to dismiss two- 
thirds of their hands, and some of them the whole. Large quantities of Rir- 
mingham g'oods have been lyine^ in Liverpool, waiting- for shipment for 12 to 
15 months past. The American market, a steady and increasing one, and the pay- 
ments, ivhich have been retfularly improinng, now very good. Since the prohibi- 
tion in America, goods have been sent to Canada : but they have been sold 
there for less than their cost in the manufacturing towns. Has tried the South 
America,n market with very indifferent success; and has concluded never to 
rnake another shipment to that country, as he beUeves those shipments have 
not yielded 25 per cent. Manufactures in America have made an alarming 
progress within two years; but thinks that if the intercoin'se was speedily 
thrown open, they would be effectually checked. f'Foiddship his goods to Ame- 
rica the moment the orders in council were rescinded, having positive and specific 
instructions from his correspondent to that effect. Knows houses in Birming- 
ham, who have goods ready to ship to America, which cost them 70,000/. 
50,000/. 40,000/. 25,000/. 20,000/. and workmen have emigrated from Birming- 
ham to America. Has no doubt that if the Jlmericmi trade was opened, the distress 
in Jiirmingltam would instantly cease, 

Mr. WILLIAM RLAKEWAY, Lamp Manufacturer of Birmingham.— Goods 
principally sent to America. Trade so much diminished that he woidd have 
stopped his business altogether, had it not been for regard for his workmen, by 
whom he has been gaining money for twenty years. Stock so much accumula- 
ted tiiat nearly the whole of his capital is absorbed by it. Unless the American, 
market is opened, cannot keep on his hands at all. Has hitherto borne the sufl'er- 
ings of his workmen himsL-lf, but will be compelled to discharge them, however 
reluctant to do so. I/as sought, but not found relief in any other market. Recol- 
lects the scarcity in 1800, and 180) : but the distress was not at all equal to the 
present, because there was plenty of work. 

Mr. JAMES RYLAND, of Birmingham, manufiicturer of plated coach har- 
ness and saddle furniture. — Principal part of his manufacture exported to the Uni- 
ted Slates. Previous to 1808, the export was very considerable and increasing, 
the returns prompt, and payment sure. Workmen who formerly earned 30 to 
40s. per week, now get aljout 20s. and those who used to get "20s. now earn 
about 1 1 or 12s. Shelves loaded with stock, and the greater part of his capital ab- 
sorbed in it. Two-thirds of the workmen employed in this business must be dis- 
charged, if no favourable change takes place. Since the falling off of the Ameri- 
can market, has opened a house in London ; but has found so majiy persons focking 
tf) the same market, thiit lie has been able to carry it on -with very little success. Pre- 
T'ious to the ordcrg in. council, the trade was in a very floiirishing state : they were 
full of orders, and their men full of work. Has received no relief from the 
8outh American market ; and knows no market equal to that of the United States, 
for the sale of this manufacture. 

Mav 4, 1812. 

Mr. JEREMIAH RIDOUT, merchant, of Rinningham.— Has goods to the 
value of 20,000/. prepared for the American market, which he would instanth' 



eHAi-. 60.] STAGNATION OF TRAD&. 3,^5 

ship if the onlers in comicil -were removed, being so advised by his partner in Jlme- 
rica. 'I'lie workmen very much distressed ; " I have seen people shed tears ; I 
have confined myself behind tlie door tor fear of seeing- those people, lest they 
should impoi-tune me to give them orders ; they have told me they did not 
know what to do. One man said, ' what can I do i" if I go to the magistrate, he 
will tell me to g'ofor a soldier; 1 am a married man, and God knows what I 
must do uidess 1 steal, and then 1 shall go to Botany Bay.' I do not like such 
words ; I cannot bear it." 

Mr. GEORGE ROOM, Japanner, of Birmingham, has manufactured princi- 
pally for America, which is the best market he ever kneiu, after triiing er>ert/ one. 

Workmen in general have not more than half work. Has tried the home trade ; 
but the competition is so g-reat, and ])rices so much reduced, that it was not 
wortii going atten Has found very httle reUef from the trade to Sicily and 
Portugal, which is the only foreign European trade they have had, and which 
does not bear any thing like a comparison to the American trade. From 600 to 
1000 hands employed in this business in Birmingham alone ; and there are 
gTeat manufactories in Bilston and Wolverhampton. 

Mr. ROBERT FIDDI.\N, manufacturer of brass candlesticks, 8ic. at Bir- 
mingham, chiefly for home consumption. Trade much diminished within the 
last 12 months, and earnings of workmen reduced one-fourth. Had a conversa- 
tion with some of his men on the subject of dismission ; they entreated him not 
to dismiss them, saying, '• you know we cannot get employment elsewhere," 
and beg-ged that he would apportion the work among them, and let each bear 
a share of the burden. Stock very much increasing, and will be obliged to dis- 
miss a number of his men, unless an aheration takes place speedily. Has no 
dotibt that his trade ivoidd be Jmtinto its former profitable situation, if the American 
trade was again opened. 

Mr. .lOSEPH WEBSTER, wire manufacturer, of Birmingham.— //"oZ/'fes wa- 
imfacture for the American market, &nd half i'ov the home trade. The" demand 
very much diminished, so that although his manufacture is reduced, his stock is 
much increased. Has orders from America, which would exhanst all his great stock 
on hand, if the orders in council were repealed. If no favourable change takes 
place, he shall feel himself compelled to discharge a great number of his men. 

May 5, 1812. 
Mr. JOSHUA SCHOLFIELD, American merchant, Bii-mingham. — Trade 
first began to fail in 1808. In 1809, rather better, but still very limited. In 
1810, very large shipments for one season. The goods for 1811 now lying in 
Liverpool. Has orders from America to ship as soon as the orders in council are 
removed, as soon as the trade is opened. Has had frequent advices from his agent 
resident in America, that manufiictures are very fast increasing there, and has 
reason to know it from particular circmnstances. One p.articidar article no\y 
in peat demand is card wire, for the manufacture of cotton and wool cards, 
which are wanted for their machinery. Has had the article of nkils countermand- 
ed on the ground that they can be manufactured cheaper in America than they 
can be imported. Has had many painful opportunities of witnessing the distress 
which prevails among the lower orders of the people in Birmingham ; believes it to be 
extreme. Has a warehouse in Wolverhampton : the lower orders in qnite as ^reat 
distress there ,- their goods may be bought at any price ; there are manv small 
manufacturers there, who are selling some of' their stock at, he believes, a 
lower rate than it cost them. Attributes the distresses of the trade and manufac- 
tures principally to the orders in council, believing them to he the cause of the 
non-intercourse with America. Has the most painful forebodings that the con- 
tinuance of the restrictions upon the American trade will give great encourage- 
ment to the increase of mamifactures in America. 

Mr. JOHN BAILEY, merchant, of Sheffield. The manufactures of Sheffield, 
or the supply of the market of the United States, employ 6000 persons, besides 
others dependent on that trade. The export to America is about one-third of the 
whole manufactures of Sheffield. About one-tenth of the usual springy shipment 



336 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. , [chap. 60. 

was made in 1811,and none since. Stock of goods have been increasing in Shef- 
field, to a conside Table extent; but there are orders for shipment to America, im- 
mediately on the rescinding of the orders in council. Information from a large ma- 
nufacturer, that he now pays one-sixth part of the wages which he did when the Ame- 
rican trade was open ; and that one-half of what he has manvifactured for the 
last fifteen months, is now dead stock. Another of the principal manufacturers 
informed him, that he now employs only half of his usual number of men, whom he 
employs only four days in a week ; that he retains them from a principle of huma- 
nity, as they have grown old in his service, and that he still holds in stock all his 
goods made in the last eigiiteen months. Believes this to be a fair specimen 
of the general state if manufa.tures in Sheffield. His orders for sliipment, on 
the removal of the orders in council, amount to the whole twelve months ship- 
ments. The amount of Sheffield goods ready for shipment to America 4U0,000/. and 
orders on hand to the same amount. Poor rates of Sheffield, year ending 180r, 
11,000;. : now 18,000/. Workmen's wages not reduced : but they are now only 
employed about three days in the week. Every man fully employed before 
the loss of t:ie American trade. Lower classes never so much distressed as at 
present. Some articles which were formerly exported from Sheffield, are now 
manufactured in America. 

May 13, 1812. 
Mr. WILLIAM MIDGELY, woollen manufacturer, of Rochdale, Lancashire. 
—The parish contains about 36,000 inhabitants, of which about one half are 
employed in this manufacture. He formerly employed about 600 hands, now 
about 400. Began to turn off his hands when his stock became very large, 
about six montlis ago. Stock is still increasing, and larger than it was before : 
and tlie home trade has fallen off very much indeed. Has in a considerable de- 
gree exhausted his capital in trade, "and if there be not an opening, it is im- 
" possible to keep on my work people ; and I am distressed about the poor 
*' people, for they have not, many of them, half victuals now." If the market 
continues as it is now, must turn off 200 of his hands, and if they are turned off, 
does not see where they can get work any where else. Has lived in RoclidaJe 
most of his life time, and been in business thirty years, but never knern the dis- 
tt'ess so great as at present. " The distress is to be seen in the people^ s countenances, 
*' every week getting tliinner and looking worse ; those that had a little money 
" have had to take it, aiKi they are almost run out of it ; they have spent what 
" little they had to buy bread." About two-fifths of this manufacture for the 
United States of America, and none for foreign Europe. Has very large orders 
for America, which should have gone off more than 12 months ago. Has found 
that market, a steady, sure, and increasing one. Workmen's wages reduced. 
Price of oatmeal twelve months ago 2d. per pound, now SJ. If the trade to 
America was opened, there would be fair employment for the manufacturers 
of Rochdale. 

Mr. THOMAS SHORT, manufacturer of hosiery at Hinckley, in Leicester- 
shire. — The total number of persons employed in the manufacture at Hinckley, 
and tlie adjoining villages, nearly 3,000. About one-third to one-fourth of 
the manufacture is for the American market, and the value about 30,000/. per 
annum. In good times employs upwards of 200 hands, now employs about 
two-thirds of the number. In consequence of the loss of the American market, the 
manufacturers in general state they must turn off one half of their ha?ids, if the de- 
mand is not greater than at present. Twelve to fourteen hundred persons 
now unem])loyed. The home trade is much injured by the competition of per- 
sons formerly in the foreign trade ; and now affords no profit. 

May 14, 1812. 
Mr. WILLL\M THOMPSON, woollen manufacturer, of Rawden, near 
Leeds. Has been in business 30 years. In 1810 employed 650 hands, and ma- 
nufactured 6,000 pieces of goods for the American market. In the last year 
made 4,000 pieces, and has dismissed 200 hands- His stock of goods, worth up- 
wards of 90,000/. being much greater than at any former period. The remain- 
ing hand* have not more than one-third work. In good times his men earned 



CBAP. 60.] STAGNATION OF TRADE. , 3SJ 

from 16s. to 30s. a week, and now only one-third. JVever knevi the poor in so 
distressed a state before; not even when corn was dearer in 1800; they had 
plenty of work at that time. " The distress of the workmen is very evident by 
their countenance, and by the raggedness of their dress. They are evidently 
in a worse situation than I ever knew them before." If a favouraole chaiip-e 
does not take place, must dismiss the whole of his hands, as the hc/y sio^k'of 
goods renders it out of his power to continue them. Made a small'shipni.ent 
to South America about twelve months ago, but has not yet reccxven anv re<- 
turns ; and will not siiip farther at present. Made a shipment to Canada, value 
30,0001. about fourteen months age, for which he has not yet received one-sixth; 
and those goods that did sell were to a considerable loss, say from 25 to 30 per 
cent. If there was an open trade to America, all the distresses -would be very short- 
ly removed; activity would be rtsumed, and the countenances of the {)oor would 
chan;^e very fast ; if that were once effected, it would give a general spring to 
our neighbourhood. Ha^ orders from America for the -whole of his goods, pro- 
vided the orders in council -were rescinded. 

Mr. CHRISTOPHER LAWSON, woollen merchant, of Leeds. In good times 
exported to America, to the value of 80,0001. annually. Present stock of goods 
40,000/. Made a shipment to Amelia Island in 1811, under the idea that it 
might get into America, but it remains there at present. Conceives all the 
merchants trading to Amevici are in the same state. The common caladation 
is, that Yorkshire goods are exported to America, to the amoimi oftivo rniUions an- 
nually. Great complaints have been made of the home market for the last six 
mon:hs. Has orders for goods to be shipped to America, on the repeal of the 
orders in council. 

May 15, 1812. 

Mr. DAVID SHEARD, blanket and flushing- manufacturer, of the parish of 
Dewsbury. In good times employs about 800 hands : 100 of tliem are now quite 
out of employ, and the reiiiainder have one-third, or one-fourth work. , The 
average wages of men, women and ciiildren, in good times, were lis. a week, 
and are now 3s. 9d. The manufacturers have given over accumulating stock ; 
they do not wish to run into debt, and the money they had is all made up into 
goods. Weekly wages paid in the hamlet, in good times, used to be 469/. now 
294/. Thinks the home trade as good as it was. Trade began to fall off in the 
beginning of 1811 : and among the loiver orders of p'/ople THERE IS VERY 
GREAT DISTRESS INDEED. If favourable circumstances do not turn up, 
wiU be obliged to turn off half the hands he now employs. Had a good trade 
before the intercourse with America was stopped. 

Mr. FR..\NCIS PLATT, merchant and woollen manufacturer, of Saddlewortfe. 
The trade has fallen off very considerably since 1810, owing to the want of 
American trade. His own stock of goods larger than ever it was before, being 
nearly 30,ujO/. The district of Saddleworth contaii.s a population of nearly 
12,000 persons, most of whom are engaged in the woollen business, and they 
do ?iot now get half the work they used to have. His capital absorbed in goods, 
and if tiiere is not a market soon, must discharge his men in tote ; which is the 
case with my.nvifact'irers in general in that district. In -iO or 50 yeai's he has 
never k-no-wnihe listress equal to th^ present. — Great numbers of the people ne- 
ver tast<^ animal fv od at a'l: their principal food is oatmeal boiled in water; and 
sometimes potatoes for cl'iner. Was informed, by a very honest msn, ihat he, 
his wife, and s'^ his children, had to go to bed, and had not even a morsel of that 
oatmeal and v.-ater to put into their mouths. Was also informed by another that 
he had got some little oatmeal, and boiled it .n wat<:i ; that he had to wet it in 
water instead of milk, or any other liquid, witli hisfr.od. The peop'e have been 
very peaceable in th's parish ; and is certain thty wi!l remain so, provided they 
could get employment, cr any thing near full employment: they have no disposi- 
tion .at all to riot. Has e nquirefl in some instances whether tl e poor have receiv- 
ed parish relief; but believes that in the principal part of the manufacturing 
districis, the poor would nearly starve, probably not to death, but pretty close 
to it, before they went to the parish ; for tliis reason— the}- have not been ac- 



338 POLITICAL ULIVE BKANXH. [chap. 60. 

customed to it, and It is a kind of disgrace or something of that kind, and they 
will not go to it if they can get half work and half wages ; they will take every 
means in tiieu- power to keep ott' the parish. Oatmeal is 3 l-2d to 4d the pound, 
or double the usual price. I'olatoes are about the same proportion ; never 
knew them any thing like so high as they are at present. Has no doubt that 
if goods could be shipped to America, there would be work. The poor are 

iK)t well clothed. on-ioio 

May 20, 1812. 

Mr. JOHN HOFFMAN, churchwarden of the parish of Spital Fields. — The 
looms employed in the manufactures of Spital Fields, about 17,000, to 20,000 ; 
and about 5,000 of them are in the parisii of Spital Fields, -where at least one 
huff of the iveavei-s are out of employment, and the lo-wer orders in a most deplorable 
state. More than one instance has occurred, where THEY HAD DIED LITERAL- 
LY FOU WANT. Soup distributed is about 3j000 to 4,000 quarts a day. Has 
dismissed a considerable number of his hands, who were employed in the silk 
trade. The light silks of Spital Fields sell in America ; of other sorts the 
French are cheaper than ours. If the American trade was open, there would 
be an ojiportunity of sending a considerable quantity of goods there ; has in 
the course of some years, manufactured goods for the American market, prin- 
cipally of the slight quality. Within these two years there has been no trade 
to America ; and therefore he was obUged to turn off his hands employed for 
that particular trade. If the trade was opened again, has no hesitation in say- 
ing those very articles would find sale there ; and he would take back the 
hands he had dismissed, which he believes is the case with others in the same 
line as himself In October last he purchased potatoes for the workhouse at 
31. 10s. per ton ; within the last six weeks, they have been selling in Spital 
Fields market, at 12/. 13Z. and 14/. a ton. Persons -who have died for -want, have 
applied for, and obtained relief : but they were too far gone before they made appli- 
cation; has uniformly found that the industrious poor 7vill never apply for relief till 
the very last extremity. Believes that more than a fifth of the silk manufactured 
in Spital Fields went to America ; and more than one tliird of his own manu- 
facture, for seven years, was for the American market. The want of an ade- 
quate supply of raw silk, has been one great cause of tlie want of emi)lo}-, and 
consequent distress of the manufacturers. 

May 25, 1812. 

Mr. SHAKSPEARE PHILLIPS, merchant, of Manchester,— was examined 
by the house four years ago upon the orders in council. Is an exporter of 
manufactured goods to the United States of America, when the trade is open. 
Has a great stock of goods on hand, which is the case of the manufacturers in 
general. Has orders to a very large amount to be shipped in the event oftlie orderte 
in coxmcil being rescinded. Has no doubt that orders of this kind, which are now 
in Manchester, would, if executed, greatly relieve the distress of that place. 
The state of the workmen in Manchester and the neighboicrhood is very deplorable. 
They are deficient in work, and are working at extremely low wages. If the 
American trade was open, would not fear the competition of the American 
manufiictures in the market, as he conceives they are only forced into that 
measure. Several adventures, which he had made to South America, have left 
a considerable loss. Cannot state the proportion which the American market 
bears to tiie general manufactory of Manchester and its neighbourhood ; but 
from his knowledge of its vast Influence upon the manufacture in gen- 
eral, is convinced that the exports annually amount to an enormous sum. Has 
no doubt tliat If the American market was freely open, there would be full em- 
ployment for the labouring manufacturers of Manchester. When the ti-ade 
with America from France and this country were both open, did not experience 
the least competition in the cotton manufactures on the part of France, and has 
not the least apprehension of any. The present duty on raw cotton in France 
being about 3,s-. a pound, amounts to a prohibition ; and any country imposing 
such a duty cannot seriously intend to establish any great manufacture. 

I trust there is here superabundant testimony of the trans- 
cendent folly and madness, as well as of the flagrant injustice of 



CHAP. 60.] ORDERS IN COUNCIL. 339 

the system pursued by the British ministry, which inflicted so 
much misery and wretchedness on that interesting and valuable 
class of subjects, the manufacturers and artizans. The testimony 
is equally strong against the folly of such of our fellow citizens, 
as, by rendering nugatory the restrictive system, so fatally in- 
volved in the horrors of a wasting war, two great nations whom 
ten thousand motives arising from mutual interests — common 
descent — congenial manners — and sameness of language — ought 
to have impelled to cultivate the strictest ties of friendship. 

During the progress of these examinations, on the 21st of 
May, the official repeal of the French decrees was communicat- 
ed by Mr. Russel, the American minister, to the court of St. 
James. But notwithstanding the solemn pledge of the British 
ministry to proceed pari passu with the French government, .in 
the business of repeal, there was no step taken respecting a re- 
peal of the orders in council, till the 23d of June, that is, for 
nearly five weeks. Nothing was done till after the whole ex- 
amination was completed, and until after an address had been 
moved in the house of commons, for the repeal, by Mr. Brough- 
ham, on the 17th of June, grounded on the result of the exami- 
nations, which was withdrawn by the mover, on a pledge by the 
ministers, that the orders would be repealed. 

As a palliation for this delay, it is stated that the assassination 
of Mr. Percival, the British pi-emier, on the 11th of May, dis- 
tracted the attention of the ministry, and prevented the redemp- 
tion of the pledge. This palliation will not bear a moment's re- 
flection. The parliamentary examination was predicated on the 
injury the British trade suffered — and had hardly the slightest 
regard to any other consideration. And as I have stated, the 
revocation of the orders in council was not attempted till that 
examination was finished. Nearly five weeks [thirty-three 
days] had elapsed from the notification of the French repeal, and 
forty-three days from the death of Mr. Percival, And no man 
can pretend that one or two weeks would not have been abun- 
dantly sufficient. 

To .prove the charge I have adduced against the British mi- 
nistry of gross impolicy, as well as injustice, in their treatment 
of this country, which led to the wasting war so injurious to 
both nations, I submit to the reader, part of a speech delivered 
in the British house of commons, by Mr. Whitbread, on the 
13th of February, 1812, about four months previous to the de- 
claration of hostilities, embracing a review of the diplomatic in- 
tercourse between the two countries, 

" Of Mr. Pinkney he need say little : he was a man of sound spnse and 
judgement, of an able and acute mind, anfl of the hic^-liest reputation. He was a 
man who had conducted himself during- his residence in this country, in a man- 
ner most honourable to himself, and likely to benefit both nations. At all 
t'mies, taking the most impartial view of the diflfevent interests concerned, his 



3^0 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 60. 

conduct, though firm, had been most conciliatory. Without losing sight of the 
claims of his country, with whicli he was intrusted, he had at all times ap- 
proached the ministers with whom he was in treaty, with respect, attention, 
and deference. Firm to his purpose, and able to elucidate the subjects under 
discussion, he had never failed in time, punctuaUty, or mode of procedure, in 
his mission. He -would he cotdd say as much for those with xvhom Mr. Pinkney had 
mtercourse. But it was not so : and it was impossible to say, that gentleman 
had been treated with the proper and punctilious ceremony he merited by the 
marquis Wellesley. At the period when this correspondence commenced, a 
great soreness prevailed in America, on account of the rupture witii Mr. Jack- 
son. The feelings of that cou?itry laere in a state of extreme irritation ; and this 
topic was the subject of Mr. Pinkney's first letter to the noble marquis. One 
would have thought at sucli a time that a minister would have felt that no want 
of decorum or attention on his pail, should be superadded to augment the un- 
pleasant feeling already too prevalent ; but it so happened, that to this very 
letter of Mr. Pinkney, of the 2d January, on the subject of another minister's 
being appointed in the room of Mr. Jackson, no answer was returned, until the 
14:th of March. Upwards of two months of precious time were wasted, during 
which Mr. Pinkney, aware that some time might be necessary, waited with the 
most patient respect and decorum. 

" On the 15th of February, the American minister again wrote to the British 
secretary, on the subject of our blockade, one of the most important in discus- 
sion, and in all its bearings, between the two countries. To this no answer was 
returned till March 2. Again, on the 30th of April, Mr. Pinkney addressed a 
letter to lord Wellesley, relative to the Berlin and Milan decrees, which were 
considered as the chief source of all the existing differences, and therefore 
merited the most earnest and immediate attention ; but to this letter no answer 
was ever returned. 

" On the 4th of May following, another letter was sent to our foreign secre- 
tary, complaining of the forging of ships' papers, carried on in London, by -which 
British sliips and property -were made to appear as American. This traffic was 
alleged to be openly and notoriously carried on : a?id it was not possible to co7i- 
ceive one more infamous to the nation whei-e practised, or injurious to the cmntry 
against -which it -was directed. Yet THIS CHARGE OF INFAMY AGAINST 
BHirAIN, THIS INJUSTICE AND INJURY TO AMERICA, WAS PASSED 
OVER IN UTTER SILENCE, AND NO ANSWER WHATEVER TO THE 
LETTER WAS RETURNED. 

" On tlie 23d of June, Mr. Pinkney again wrote, referring to his letter of 
the 30th of April, on the subject of the Berlin and Milan decrees, and request- 
ing an answer ; but no answer was returned- On the 7th of July he wrote 
again relative to the appointment of a minister in the room of Mr. Jackson, 
(his first subject on the 2d of .fanuary) and even at this distance of time re- 
ceived no official aimver, but merely a verbal assurance or private note, that a 
minister would be immediately sent out. On the 8th of August, Mr. Pinkney 
once more wrote, referring to his letters of the 23d June and 30th April ; but 
could obtain no answer. 

" On the 21st August, he again by letter pressed the subject of blockade ; 
but could obtain no answer. On the 25th of the same month, he again wrote 
to state the revocation of t'^e Berlin and Milan decrees ; and to this communi- 
cation our minister atlengtli condescended to send a reply. The next part of 
the corrosDondcnce was another letter from Mr. Pinkiiey, relative to a rnisap- 
prehension of Sir James Sanmarez, on the nature of the blockade of Elsineur, 
and on the impressing of certain seamen from an American ship. To the for- 
mer subject an answer was returned ; but of the latter no notice was taken- He 
had indeed been much surprised at the whole course of this correspon'ence ; 
but at this particular period his astonishment was greater tlian ever. That a 
subject so keenly felt by America, as th- impressing of her citizens, should be entirely 
passed over in silence, tvas beyond all former neglect and inat'ention. 

" All the world knew that this point \vas the one on which the greatest dif- 
ficulty existed In negociatlng an amicable adjustment between the two coun- 
tries ," and that our conduct to-wards American seamen stood more in the -way of con- 



cfiHP. 6I.3 STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 841 

ciliation than any other matter -whatever. Sui'ely then such an opportunity ought 
not to liave been neglected ; surely it was the duty of the British minister to 
show, by his speedy attention to the subject, tliat he was as anxious to evince 
the spirit of conciliation as to profess it ; and that, knowing how fatal to the in- 
terest of this country a rapture with America would be, he would have eagerly 
embraced the opening presenting itself, to demonstrate our amicable intentions, 
and remove one of the sorest grievances complained of. But, no ! reluctantly 
and coldly w-as the answer on this subject wrung forth — not from the noble 
secretary, not by letter from him, but practically by tlie disciiarge of these sea- 
men, by Sir William Scott, in the court of admiralty, thereby acknowledging 
and declai'ing the inght and justice of the claim urged on the part of America. 
This was the conciliation of the noble secretary, tliat he permitted the sentence 
of a court of justice, to give a practical answer to a foreign minister, whom he 
would not take the trouble of putting pen to paper to satisfy on so interesting 
a point. 

"On the 21st of September, Mr. Pinkney found it necessary again to ad- 
dress the British government; and referring to his letters of the 30th April, 
23d June, and 8th August, on the subject of the Berhn and Milan decrees, he 
urged an immediate answer, as his government had long been in expectation 
of a communication on that head. Again, on the 8tli and 10th December, he 
wrote ; and -with these letters concluded his correspondence, being unable to obtain 
any satisfactory information ; and soon after he deinaiided his audience of leave of 
the Prince Regent.'" 

-~ The >vretched and depredating system pursued by the British 
ministry, has in its consequences produced the most sakitary 
effects on this country, and inflicted the most serious and vital 
injury on Great Britain. It has accelerated the progress of our 
manufactures more in five or six years, than in the common 
course of events would have taken place in thirty. It has, in a 
very great degree, emancipated us from our former slavish de- 
pendence on the looms and the anvils of Great Britain. And 
on the subject of naval affairs, it is impossible to estimate the 
injury Great Britain has received by it, or the glory the United 
States have acquired. The vaunted prowess of England, her 
towering pretensions to naval pre-eminence, that character 
which in former naval conflicts prepared her sailors for victory, 
and her enemies for defeat, are irretrievably tarnished in a con- 
test with the youngest maritime power in the world. 

CHAPTER LXI, 

England said to be struggling for her existence. This no pal- 
liation of her outrages on neutral nations. Attack on Copen- 
hagen. 

Among the various errors lately prevalent, and pregnant with 
baneful consequences, a very important one was, that the Euro- 
pean war on the part of England was a war for her existence — 
and this has been alleged not merely as a palliation, but as a jus- 
tification of her outrages upon our citizens and upon our com- 
merce. The outrages and depredations she perpetrated, were 
covered over with this mantle of oblivion, for the purpose of 
defaming the administration that resisted them. 
O. B. 45 



342 POLITICAL OLIVR BRANCH. [chap. 6L 

1 have already touched on this subject incidentally. It re- 
quires further elucidation. And at the hazard of repetition, I 
resume it. 

The most important aggressions of England on the commerce 
of this country, may be i^eferred to four epochs — 

1. The lawless and predatory captvires in 1793, during the 
administration of gen. .Washington. 

2 The application in 1805, of the rule of 1756, without any 
previous notice or warning, and, to aggravate the enormity, 
against her own exposition of the law of nations, and against 
the decisions of her courts of admiralty ; whereby the seas were 
swept of the American vessels and commerce. 

3. The paper blockade by Charles J. Fox's administration, 
of the coast from the Elbe to Brest, an extent of 800 miles. 

4. The orders in council of Nov. 1807. 
Of these in due course. 

1. Lord Castlereagh himself, or the marquis of Wellesley, 
would not dare to assert that the depredations in 1793 could be 
palliated by the jeopardy of her existence. They were wanton, 
unprovoked, lawless, and predatory to the last degree. General 
Washington presided over the destinies of this country. He 
had resolved on and observed a fair and impartial neutrality. 
The manner, and time, and circumstances, were as monstrous 
as the measure itself. 

2. On the subject of the predatory system of 1805, I shall 
merely refer the reader to the mercantile memorials of that pe- 
riod* written and signed by men who have since as ably de- 
fended and justified the conduct of England, as at that period 
they unqualifiedly reprobated and denounced it. This change 
in their opinions and conduct changes not the nature of the- 
facts. For tlie proceedings of the British ministry at that pe- 
riod, every honourable Englishman must blush. They were 
unworthy of, and disgraceful to, a mighty and respectable na- 
tion. 

3. Charles James Fox's blockade was a gross violation of the 
laws of nations. — It was in direct hostility Avith previous decla- 
rations made by that statesman himself — as well as with the ho- 
nourable and indeed the only legal definition of a blockade, pre- 
viously given to our government by Mr. Merry, the British mi- 
nister here, as follows : — 

« iVdmiralty Office, January 5, 1804. 
" Sir, 

"HuAing communicated to the lords of the admiraUy, lord Hawkesbury'a 
letter of the 23(1 ult. enclosing- the copy of a dispatch which his lordship had 
received from Mr. Tliornton, hi.s majesty's cliarg-e d'affaires in America, on 
the subject of the blockade of the islands of Martinique and Gaudaloupe, to- 
gether with the report of the advocate general thereupon, I have their lord- 

* See chapters xir, xv, and xvli. 



CHAP. 61.] STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 343 

ships' command to acquaint you, for his lordship's information, that they have 
sent orders to commodore Hood, not to consider any blockade as existing, mi- 
less in respect In parficular ports -u^hich may be actuaUij invested ; and then not to 
capture vessels bound to such ports, unless they shall previously have been 
warned not to enter them ; and that they have also sent the necessary direc- 
tions on the subject to the judges of the vice-admiralty courts in the West 
Indies and America. " I am, &c. 

George Hammond, Esq. EVAN NEPEAN." 

Here is the only fair, and honest, and honourable exposition 
of the law of nations on this subject, laid down by England 
herself. This letter stands on eternal record — and seals the ir- 
revocable condemnation of that vile predatory system, whereby, 
according to George Cabot, James Lloyd, and the other Boston 
memorialists, she v»^as, during the course of the French war, 
" PREYING UPON THE UNPROTECTED PROPER- 
TY OF A FRIENDLY POWER."* If lord Castlereagh, 
the marquis of Wellesley, lord Cathcart, George Cai^.ning, Mr. 
Rose, or Mr. War-in-Disguise, should find this accusation 
somewhat indigestible, let them hurl the gauntlet at Mr. Lloyd 
and his friends. 

4. The orders in council close the catalogue. They will form 
an eternal blot on the escutcheon of the administration by which 
they were enacted, and so long supported. For their impolicy 
the reader is referred to chapter LV, It was at least equal to 
their flagrant injustice. 

From the 1st of March, 1809, they lost whatever plea or 
palliation might have previously existed for them. The non- 
intercourse act, passed on that day, put it in the power of Great 
Britain, at any hour she pleased, to open our ports to her trade 
and navigation — -to shut them against the vessels and trade of 
France — and in eft'ect to have ultimately produced war between 
that nation and the United States. 

The refusal of this oifer was a clear, convincing, and unan- 
swerable proof, that her sole object was monopoly; and that, 
in the language of Mr. Bayard, retaliation was merely " a pre- 
tence." Her depredations were committed without intermission. 
Let any honest Englishman — any candid federalist, now that 
the reign of delusion has terminated, say, were these depreda- 
tions, to pass over their immorality and injustice, such measures, 
as, on mere principles of policy, " a nation strug-gl'mg for her 
exisience^^^ ought to have adopted ? Was it just, or proper, or 
prudent, for " a nation stniq'g-lifig for her existence^'''* to violate 
the rights, and to plunder the property, of an unoffending neu- 
tj-al, and risk a war with that neutral ? Siu'ely not. 

In a word, let Timothy Pickering, Rufus King, George Ca- 
hot, or governor Strong, clecide, whether the conduct of Great 

* Let it be observed that the predatory system of 1805, denounced by th? 
Boston memorialists, as " preying upon the unprotected profterty of a friendly 
po-ver,''^ was incomparably less unjust and more defensible than the subset 
quent outrages perpetrated on American commerce. 



344 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cuap. 61 

Britain on the ocean were not as unjust, as arbitrary, and as 
lawless, as that of Bonaparte on terra firma i Whether the 
clandestine orders of 1793, and those of i805, were not as per- 
fidious, as faithless, and as utterly indefensible, as any act of the 
French emperor ? And finally, to sum up the whole, whether 
there be in the history of mankind any act much more atrocious 
than the attack upon Copenhagen, the capital of an innocent and 
respectable neutr; 1, for the purpose of seizing her fleet? Whe- 
ther this act, and the pt-rfidious conduct of Bonaparte towards 
Spain, are not exactly of the same character ? 

" Amidst all the con\^ilsions which Europe had experienced in consequence 
of tlie revolution in France, the- kingdom of Denmark had, by the wise and 
temperate policy of her ruler, been in a great measure preserved from the fa- 
tal consequences of those commotions which had overturned governments of 
much greater political consequence. This had been accomplished, not by hu- 
mila'ing himself to any of the belligerent powers; not by espousing the cause 
of such of them as appeared for tlie moment to be successful ; but by maintain- 
ing a firm, dignified, and undeviating independence, neither influenced by in- 
trigues nor intimidated by threats. Her naval and military establishments, 
though not great, were respectable ; and, combined with the natiu'al advanta- 
ges of her situation, might justify her in the hopes of defending herself with 
success against any enemy that should attempt to infringe upon her neutrality. 
In order to defend this neutrality, the Danish government had, for a considera- 
ble time past, concentred its army on its continental frontiers ; and it has been 
stated, that this measure was adopted at the instance of Great Britain, as being 
favourable to the protection of her commerce. In this situation the British 
fleet, with a large military force, arrived on the coast of Zealand, where the 
Danish government saw no reason to recognize them in any other character 
than that of friends and protectors. They were there joined by the German 
legion from the isle of Hugen : and Mr. Jackson, the British resident at Copen- 
hag'en, according to the instructions received from his court, demanded from the 
Danish goTernment THE SURRENDER OF ITS NAVY TO HIS BRITANNIC 
MAJESTY, to be retained by him vmtil the restoration of a general peace- 
Tills proposition was indignantly rejected ; in consequence of which the troops 
were landed ; and a ])roclamation was published by lord Cathcart, the com- 
mander-in-chief, stating the motives and objects of such a proceeding, and 
threatening, that in case of resistance, the city of Copenhageii should be deso- 
lated BY EVERY POSSIBLE MEANS OF DEVASTATION. Unprepared as 
the city then was, the crown prince gave orders that it should be defended to 
the last extremity. Of the Danish navy, not a ship was rigged, and the crews 
were absent. On the second day of September, the British troops commenced 
the attack, on three sides of the city, which continued for several days wilJiout 
intermission; during which 6,500 shells were thrown into the town, which 
was soon on fire in upwards of thii-ty places. The timber-yards were con- 
sumed ; tlie powder magazine blew up ; the steeple of the cathedral chvirch 
was in a blaze, and fell amidst the continual shouts of the British troops. From 
the mode of attack which had been adopted, hostilities were not confined to the 
Du7nsh sohUei-y and the arvied burgliers engaged in the defence of the city ; but .?.r- 
iended to the inhabitants of both sexes — the aged, the young, the infirm, the sick, and 
the helplesa, fur -rliose safety no opportimity ivas afforded of providing, and gretit 
numbers of whom perished by the bursting of she/Is, the fire of the artillery, and t.he 
innnmerable accidents conseqnent on so dreadful and unexpected an attack. It socjv 
appeared that the city was unable to make an efiectual resistance : the Briti.'^ li 
forces having a])proached with their trenches so near, as to be enabled to sc t 
it on fire whenever they pleased. To prevent this consummation of misery, 
the Danish conmnander assented to terms of capitulation, by which he agreed! 
to sui'render up the fleet, upon condition that the British army should evacuate 



CHAP, 61] STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 545 

the island of Zealand within six weeks, and that public and private property 
should in the mean time be respected."* 

Of these horrible scenes, worthy of Alaric, Attila, or Genghis 
Khan, it is impossible to read, without shuddering with hoiTor. 
Every Englishman, who possesses a due sense of national hon- 
our, must deplore the stain they have impressed on the escut- 
cheon of his native land — and must join in the execration to 
which the upi'ight part of mankind have consigned and will 
eternally consign the ministers who planned and ordered the 
perpetration of such a scene of barbarous and merciless outrage. 
Away then for ever with the miserable cant of " a struggle 
for her existence,''^ as not merely a palliative, but a justification 
of "PREYING UPON THE UNPROTECTED PROP- 
ERTY OF A FRIENDLY POWER."! This high and 
damning accusation against Great Britain, of " preying upon 
the unprotected property of a friendly poxver'''' was advanced, as 
I have repeatedly had occasion to state, by George Cabot, 
Jaines Lloyd, Thomas Perkins, Arnold Welles, and the other 
Boston merchants who signed the memorial to congress in 1805; 
but who have, from that period to the present, inconsistently 
been the advocates of the British, and the accusers of their own 
government. 

Every nation at war may be said " to struggle for her exist- 
ence.''^ But she is not therefore to " struggle^'' her unoffending 
neighbours out of their ships, their seamen, their property, or 
their dearest rights of sovereignty, to help to preserve herself 
in ^'- a struggle " created by lawless ambition. 

Not many months have elapsed since the United States, con- 
tending single-handed against the most fonriidable naval power 
that ever existed, might be most emphatically and most correct- 
ly said to be ^'■struggling for their existence^'' which was really 
and truly jeopardized. What consummate folly and madness, 
as well as injustice, would it have been, to have commenced de- 
predations on the commerce of Russia, France, Spain, or Hol- 
land, and to add one or more of those nations to the list of our 
enemies ? At such a critical time, it becomes nations to " carry 
their faculties so meek'' as to give no reasonable cause of offence. 
If, therefore, the idea be correct, that Great Britain was really 
" struggling for her existence^'' so far from justifying or palliat- 
ing her irritating and outrageous conduct towards the L^nited 
States, which ultimately goaded us into war, it only more fully 
proves the dire insanity of those fatuitous and ruinous counsels 
by which her affairs were directed. 

* "Roscoe's view of the causes, objects, and consequences, of the present 
^-ar — and on the expediency or the danger of a peace with France," page 42. 
\ See Boston niemorialj Chap. 11. 



346 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. .62. 

CHAPTER LXII. 

The loud clamour raised by the eastern states on the subject of 
representation xuholly unfounded. The result of factious de- 
lusion. Statistics. Examination of the representation in the 
Senate.* 

To reconcile the people of the eastern states to the parricidal 
project of a dissolution of the union, there has been a fearful 
outcry raised on the subject of its inequalities and disadvantages, 
and its oppressive operation on that portion of the nation, par- 
ticularly in regard to the representation in the lower house of 
congress. The most extravagant errors are afloat on this topic. 
It is generally believed, that the southern states have an enor- 
mous and undue influence in that body, in consequence of taking 
the slaves into account in fixing the number of its members. 

I waive, for a few minutes, the consideration how far this in- 
equality and injustice exist. For sake of argument, I will admit 
them for the present. And I respectfully ask the reader, 
whether it be possible to form a partnership or connexion of any 
kind, without inequality? Take any species you choose. Ex- 
amine the talents, the address, the capital, the means of promot- 
ing the joint interests of the concern ; you will find that there 
is in some — perhaps in all these respects — a considerable ine- 
quality ; that one party has an advantage in respect to under- 
stmding, or influence, and another in point of capital or skill — 
or in some of the various ways in which men differ from their 
fellow mortals. Go to the married state. And I aver, that it 
is almost absolutely impossible to form any connexion whatever 
with a perfect equality. 

This being obviously and strikingly the case in those simple 
associations which I have considered, how could it be supposed 
that so delicate and complicated an association as that of thir- 
teen independent sovereignties, more or less various in their 
habits, in their productions, intheir climates, in their population, 
in their pursuits, could have been formed without a spirit of 
compromise — without a mutual balancing of advantages and 
disadvantages ? To expect it, would be the quintessence of folly. 
But the reader will doubtless be astonished, when he finds 
what is the real state of the case. He will be convinced, that 
the alleged grievances which have been made the instruments of 
exciting the angry passions of our eastern brethren, and prepar- 
ing them for rebellion, have no existence. Let the two legisla- 
tive bodies be combined together, and it will be obvious, that 
the eastern states have had, and still have, rather more than the 
share of influence to which their white population entitles them, 

* This, and the two succeeding chapters, are extracted from a pamphlet, pub- 
lished Nov. 28, 1814, by the author of the Olive Branch, and entitled " A CaJm 
Address to tlie people of the Eastern States." 



GHAP. 62.] STATISTICS. 347 

I have taken some pains to make the calculations requisite, in 
order to lay the real state of the case before the public : and I 
submit the result in both branches of the legislature. 

Exammatio7i of the representation of the eastern states in the 
Senate of the United States^ on the ground of white population 
only^ since the org-anization ofthegovernmejit. 

Population of the United States, Anno 1790, 3,929,326 

Deduct slaves, _ , . - 697,697 

White population, . - - - 3,231,629 

Total population of the eastern states, - 1,009,522 

Deduct slaves, . - - - - 3,886 

White population, _ - - - 1,005,636 

Total number of Senators, 28. 
As 3,231,629 : 28 : : 1,005,636 : 8.713 
Thus, their exact proportion, had the slaves been rejected, 
was 8.713 ; whereas they had ten senators. 



Population of the United States, Anno 1800, 5,303,666 

Deduct slaves, _--.-. 896,849 



White population, . - - _ ^ 4,406,817 

Population of the eastern states - - - 1,233,011 

Deduct slaves, . _ _ - - 1,339 

White population, - - . - . 1,231,672 

Total number of Senators, 34. 
As 4,406,817 : 34 : : 1,231,672 : 9.502. 
Here, again, they had more than their proportion, which was 
9.502 ; whereas, they had ten. 

Population of the United States, Anno 1810, 7,239,903 

Deduct slaves, ------ 1,191,364 

White population, - . - - . 6,048,539 

White population of the eastern states, . 1,471,973 

Total number of Senators, 36. 
As 6,048,539 : 36 : : 1,471,973 : 8.760. 
On this recent census, their proper proportion is 8.760 ', 
whereas, they have, as before, ten. 



848 POLITICAL OLI\lE BRANCH. [chap. 63. 

Thus it is evident that the eastern states have had in the 
senate, more than their due proportion of influence from the 
commencement of the government — and that in the present se- 
nate they have actually 14 percent, more than they are entitled 
to, taking mto consideration vierely the white population of the 
nation^ notwithstanding the introduction of new states. 

Who can forget the daring threat held out by Mr. Quincey, 
of resistance to the introduction of new states, " aynicably if they 
could, violently if they must .^'' 

" Mr. Quincey repeated and justified a remark he had made ; which, to 
save all misapprehension, he committed to writing in the following- words : 

" If this bill passes, it is my deliberate opinion, that it is \'irtually A DISSO- 

I^UTION OF THE UNION ; that it will free the states from their moral obli- 
gation ; and as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, TO PRE- 
PARE FOR A SEPARATION, amicably if theij ca«— VIOLENTLY IF THEY 
MUST."* 

Any person unacquainted with the subject, to have heard or 
read Mr. Quincey's speeches, would have concluded — and not 
unreasonably — that some lawless outrage had been perpetrated 
on the section of the union which he represented ; and that it 
•was robbed of its due share of influence in the senate by that 
measure. How astonished must he be to find, that from the or- 
ganization of the government, the fact has been directly the re- 
verse ; that it has had more than its due share of influence ; and 
that the other sections of the union have had solid and substan- 
tial causes of complaint on this subject ! 

CHAPTER LXIII. 

Statistics continued. Slave representation fairly stated. Residt.. 

The state of the representation in the lower house, to which 
the loud complaints of Francis Blake, Mr. Lowell, Mr. Harri. 
son Gray Otis, and their friends, particularly refer, remains to 
be considered. They have been but too successful in persuad- 
ing their fellow-citizens, that to the fatal source of slave repre- 
sentation may be ascribed all the manifold oppressions, and in- 
justice, which, they allege, the eastern states have experienced. 

There is probably not one man in a thousand who has a con- 
ception how very slight the inequality is here. I have asked a 
number of intelligent and well-informed men their opinions — and 
some surmised 100 per cent, beyond the truth— others were 
wide of it 200 per cent. 

What must be your amazement, reader, to learn, that if all 
the slaves in the United States were discarded, in the apportion- 
ment of members of the house of representatives of the United 
States, it would make a difference of only three in the number of 
representatives of the eastern states ? 

•National Intelligencer, Jan. 15, 1811, in the debate on the admission of 
Louisiana as a state. 



CHAP. 63.] 



STATISTICS. 



34:9 



The white population of the United States at the 

late census, was _----_ 6,048,539 
That of the eastern states, - _ _ - 1,471,973 

Total number of members, 182. 
Actual representatives of the five eastern states 41. 

As 6,048,539 : 182 : : l,47i,973 : : 44,0048. 
Thus it appears, that were the representation graduated by the 
white population alone, the eastern states would be entitled to 
but 44 representatives. Therefore, the injury they suffer by the 
admission of the slaves, is only a reduction of three members, 
in a body of 182 — whereas they have one and a quarter more 
than they ai'e entitled to in the senate, a body of 36 members. 
That is to say, and let it be borne in remembrance, in one branch 
they are not two per cent, below their proportion — and in the 
other branch, which is by far the more influential and powerful, 
they have about 14 per cent, more than they are fairly entitled 
to by their white population. 

A viexv of the slave representation in the House of Representa- 
tives of U. S, CensKs oyiSlO. 
Ratio^ one representative for 35,000 inhabitants. 



J\Taryland. 
Total population 
Deduct slaves 



380,546 
111,502 



Divide by the ratio 35000)269,044(7 

Remainder 24,044 

Add three-fifths of 111,502 

slaves 66,900 

Divide by 35,000)90,944(2 



Remainder 10,950 

Add 3-5tlis of 80,561 slaves 48,336 

. Divide by 35,000)59,286(1 

Fraction rejected 24,286 

Ten representatives — nine for wliites 
— one for slaves. 

JVorth- Carolina. 
Total population 555,500 

Deduct slaves 168,824 



Fraction rejected 20,944 

Nine representatives — 7 for whites- 
2 for slaves 

Virginia. 
Total population 974,622 

Deduct slaves 392,518 



Divide by 35,000)582,104(16 



Remainder 

Add three-fifths of 392,518 
slaves 



22,104 
235,504 



Divide by 35,000)257,608(7 



Divide by 35,000)386,676(11 

Remainder l,6r6 

Addtlu-ee-fifths of 168,824 

slaves 101,292 

Divide by 35,000)102,968(2 

Fraction rejected 32,968 

Thirteen representatives — eleven for 
whites — two for slaves. 
Smith- Carolina. 
Total population 415,115 

Deduct slaves 196,365 



Fraction rejected 12,608 

Twenty-three representatives — 16 for 
whites, 7 for slaves. 
Kentucky. 
Total population 406,511 

Deduct slaves 80,561 



Divide by 35,000)218,750(6 



Remainder 

Add tln-ce-fifths of 196,365 



slaves 



8,750 
117,819 



Divide by 35,000)325,950(9 
O. B. 46 



Divide by 35,000)126,562(3 



350 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 63 

Fraction i-ejected 21,569 Fraction rejected 345 
Nine representatives— six for whites — Six representatives— four for whites- 
three for slaves two for slaves 

Georg-ia. Tennessee. 

Total population 252,433 Total population 261,727 

Deduct slaves 105,218 Deduct slaves 44,535 



Divide by 35,000)147,215(4 Divide by 35,000)217, 192(6 

Kemainder 7,215 Remainder 7,192 

Add tliree-fifths of 105,218 Add 3-5ths of 44,535 slaves 26,661 

slaves 63,130 



Fraction rejected 33,853 



Divide by 35,000)70,345(2 No representative of the slaves. 

Afcxvfacts on the subject of the slave representation in the lower 

house. 

New-York, by the first and last cen- Bela-ware has a slave representative. 

sus, has had for ten years, and will Total population of Delaware 

have for ten more, one slave represen- in 1810 ■ 72,674 

tative.. Deduct slaves 4,177 
Total population of New-York, 



Anno 1790 340,120 Divide by 35,000)68,497(1 

Deduct slaves 21,324 



Remainder 33,497 

Divide by the ratio of 33,000)318,796(9 Add 3-5ths of 4,177 slaves 2,505 



Remainder 21,796 Divide bv 35,000)36,002(1 

Add 3-5ths of 21,324 slaves 12,794 _ 

Fraction rejected 1,002 



Divide by 33,000)34,590(1 

Fraction rejected 1,590 

— Massachusetts, to her gi'eat Itonour, 

Total popidation of New-York, has no slaves. But it is a curious fact. 

Anno 1810 959,069 that she has a representative of her 

Deduct slaves 15,071 black population. 



Her white population is 693,039 

Divide by 35,000)943,998(26 Black 7,706 

Remainder 33,998 700,745 

Add 3-5ths of 15,071 slaves 9,009 This, divided by 35,000, just allows 

her twenty members. Deduct the 

Divide by 35,000)43,007(1 blacks, andslie would have but nint- 

teen. 



tion rejected 


8,007 








Representatives 


of slaves. 






1790 


1800 


1810 


New-York 


1 





1 


Delaware 








1 


Mar\land 


2 


2 


2 


Virginia 


6 


6 


7 


North Carolina 


2 


2 


2 


South Carolina 


2 


2 


2 


Georgia 


1 


1 


2 


Tennessee 





1 


1 


Kentucky 





1 


1 



14 15 19 



CHAP. 63.] 



STATISTICS. 



351 



The following views display the very extraordinary inequali- 
ties that exist in the representation in the senate. They fuUv 
establish the mutual forbearance and the laudable spirit of com- 
promise that prevailed in the federal con^'ention. 

VIEW I. 



. Free persons. Senators. 
Massachusetts 700,745 2 
N. Hampshire 214,460 2 
Vermont 217,895 2 

Connecticut 261,632 2 

Rhode Island 76,823 2 



1,471,555 10 



Free persons. Senators. 
New-York 944,0:.2 2 

Pennsylvania 809,296 2 

Virginia 58^,104 2 

N. Carolina 386,676 2 
Kentucky 325,950 2 



3,048,058 10 



Free persons. 

Thus it appears that the eastern states with only 1,471,555, 
have as much influence in the senate of the United 
States, as the above five middle and southern states 
with , . _ - - 3,048,058 

VIEW II. 



Free persons. Senators. 
N. Hampshire 214,460 2 
Vermont 217,895 2 

Connecticut 261,632 2 

Rhode Island 76,823 2 



770,810 8 



Free persons. Senators. 
New-York 944,032 • 2 

Pennsylvania 809,296 2 
Virginia 582,104 2 

N. Carolina 386,676 2 



2,722,108 



8 



Thus four of the eastern states, with 775,810 free persons, have 
as much influence as four middle and southern states with 
2,722,108 — and four times as much as Pennsylvania with 809,296, 

VIEW III. 



Free persons. Senators. 
Massachusetts 700,745 2 
N. Hampshire 214,460 2 
Vermont 217,895 2 


Fi- 
Maryland 
Virginia 
N. Carolina 


ee persons. Senators, 
269,044 2 
582,104 2 
386,676 2 


Connecticut 261,632 
Rhode Island 76,823 


2 
2 


Ohio 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 


230,760 
325,950 
217,192 


2 
2 

2 






S. Carolina 


218,750 


2 






Georgia 


147,215 


2 


1,471,555 


10 


2,377,691 


16 



352 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 63. 

The result of this comparison was utterly unexpected. It 
•\vili no doubt surprize the reader. It is a fair and overwhelm- 
ing view of the comparative ir.fluence in the senate, of the mur- 
muring, discontented, and oppressed " nation of New Eng- 
land'' with that of the whole of the- ancient " slave states," as 
they are called. It appears that the former have one represen- 
tative in senate for every 147,155 free persons, and that the lat- 
ter have one for every 148,605. 

The addition of Louisiana has somewhat altered the state of 
the representation. It makes the ratio for the slave states about 
136,000. 



VIEW IV. 

nators. 
2 
Delaware 6.^,497 2 



Free persons. Senators. 
Rhode Island 76,823 2 



145,320 



Free persons. Senators. 
New- York- 944,032 2 

Pennsylvania 809,296 2 



1,753,328 



Thus, one free person in Rhode Island, it is obvious from the 
above view, possesses as much influence in the senate of the 
United States as twelve in New York or ten in Pennsylvania. 
And one in Delaware possesses nearly as much as fourteen in 
New York or twelve in Pennsylvania. One in Rhode Island 
has more than seven in Virginia. 

VIEW V. 



Free persons. Senators. 
N. Hampshire 214,460 2 
Connecticut 261,632 2 

Rhode Island 76,823 2 



55..>yi5 



Free persons. Senators. 
Virginia 582,104 2 



582,104 



Thus, three eastern states, with 552,915 free persons, have 
six senators ; and Virginia, with 582,104, has but two. 

If the wisest and best of the citizens of the United States as- 
sembled in convention, with General Washington and Dr. 
Franklin at their head, found it necessary for the peace, and 
happiness, and respectability of the country, to agree to the con- 
stitution, with such prodigious inequalities as are stated above, 
it is not difficult to form an opinion on the folly and wickedness 
of the loud complaints of injustice and inequality, on points to 
the last degree insignificant, whereby the spirit of sedition has 
been excited in the eastern states. 

The war question, it has been said, was carried by the slave 
representatives. This is an egregious error. The majority in 



CHAP. 63.] 



STATISTICS. 



353 



the lower house was 30. And the whole number of slave re- 
presentatives is only 19. So that had they been totally reject- 
ed, the question of war would have been carried. I pass over 
the slave representatives from New York and Delaware, both 
of whom voted against the war. I likewise waive the conside- 
ration of the fact, that eleven members from the southern states 
also voted against the measure. 



A fair view of all the preceding tables and facts, will satisfy 
any man not wholly destitute of truth and candour, that the 
interests of the eastern states have been carefully guarded in 
both branches of the legislature of the union. Their complaints 
are to the last degree groundless and factious. It will further 
prove, that Pennsylvania has a stronger ground of complaint by 
far in the senatorial branch, than the eastern states in the other. 
With a population of 809,296 free persons, she has but two 
senators ; whereas New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, 
and Connecticut, with 770,8 iO, have eight. The difference is 
enormous and immense. 



Statement of the number of members in the house of representa- 
tives^ after each different ceiisus. 



New Hampshire, 

Vermont, 

Massachusetts, 

Connecticut, 

Rhode Island, 

New York, 

New Jersey, 

Pennsylvania, 

Delaware, 

Maryland, 

Virginia, 

North Carolina, 

South Carolina, 

Georgia, 

Kentucky, 

Tennessee, 

Ohio, 

Louisiana, 



First. 


Second. 


Thi 


4 


5 


6 


2 


4 


6 


14 


17 


20 


7 


7 


7 


2 


2 


2 


10 


17 


27 


5 


6 


6 


13 


18 


23 


1 


1 


2 


8 


9 


9 


19 


22 


23 


10 


12 


13 


6 


8 


9 


2 


4 


6 





6 


10 





3 


6 








6 








1 



103 



141 



182 



354 POLITICAL OLIVE'BRANCH. [chap. 64- 

CHAPTER LXIV. 

Enquh'ij into the allegation, against the southern states^ of de- 
stroijing commerce^ to promote manufactures. Utterly un- 
founded. The eastern states deeply interested in manuj'acturcs. 
The southern the reverse. 

Let me, reader, still further trespass on your attention. There 
is one point of considerable importance, on which our eastern 
fellow citizens have been egi^egiously deceived, and on which it- 
is desirable they should form correct opinions. 

That the administration and the southern members of con- 
gress are actuated by an inveterate hostility to commerce, and 
that their measures have been dictated by a desire to destroy 
it for the purpose of injuring the so-styled commercial states, 
has been assumed as an incontrovertible fact, which could nei- 
ther be disputed nor denied. It has been, as I have stated, re- 
echoed by governors and legislatures — by inflammatory writers 
in newspapers — and by equally inflammatory cleygymen in their 
pulpits, until any doubt of it is believed to be as wicked and he- 
terodoxical, as a doubt of the miracles of the Koran is regarded 
by the mufti at Constantinople. 

It was necessary to find some motive for this hostility. It 
would have been too monstrous to assert that the southerners^ 
as some of the eastern writers have styled the people of the 
southern states, destroyed commerce to promote agriculture, 
and of course to advance their own interests. This would not 
stand examination, and was therefore abandoned. It was, how- 
ever necessary to devise some pretext. And, it has a thousand 
times been asserted, that the hostility to commerce arose from a 
desire to promote mamfactnrcs. And this sorry tale has been 
believed by the " most enlightened'''' portioji of " tJie most en" 
lightened nation in the xvorldy 

The following facts will shew the transcendent folly and im- 
posture of this allegation. 

1. The eastern states have numerous and important mam fac- 
tories^ established on a large and extensive scale. 

2. The extreme sterility of a large portion of their soil, and 
the comparative density of their population, render manufactu- 
ring establishments indispensibly necessary to them. 

3. They are therefore deeply a7id vitally interested in the pro. 
motio7i of mamfactures^ without which they would be in a great 
measure depopulated by the attractions of the western, middle, 
and southern states. 

4. The manufactures of the southern states are principally in 
private families. 

o. These states have no redundant population. Their people 
find full employment in agriculture. 



CHAP. 65.] STATISTICS. 355 . 

6. They have therefore little or no interest hi the promotion 
of 7namfactiires. 

7. But the reduction, or restriction, or injury of commerce, 
cannot fail vitally to injure them, by lessening the demand for^ 
and loxvering the price of their productions. We have seen that 
it has produced this effect to a inost ruinous extei^t. 

8. It irresistibly follows, that if the southern states wantonly 
destroyed or restrained commerce, to promote manufactures, it 
would be inflicting the most serious and vital injury on them- 
selves^for the mere purpose of serving those states to xvhich they 
are said to bear an inveterate and deadly hostility ! ! ! 

9. Whoever, possessing any mind, can disseminate those 
opinions, must mean to deceive : for he cannot possibly believe 
them himself. 

10. Whoever can believe in these absurdities, may believe 
that rivers occasionally travel to their sources — that lambs de- 
vour wolves — that heat produces ice — that " thorns produce 
figs" — or, what is almost as absurd, that the soil of Massachu- 
setts is as fertile, and the climate as mild, as the climate and 
soil of South Carolina or Georgia. 

CHAPTER LXV. 

Militia defence. System of Classif cation proposed in Congress. 

Rejected. Axvful outcry. 

Towards the close of the late war with Great Britain, an 
attempt was made in Congress to employ in the defence of the 
nation a portion of the militia, in a mode the most simple, the 
most practicable, the most efficient — and at the same time, the 
least burdensome, that was ever adopted in any countr}% Those 
persons throughout the United States, who are subject to militia 
duty, were to be divided into classes, each of twenty-five. 
Every class was to furnish one of its members, who was to 
serve for one year, or during the war, and whose bounty was to 
be contributed by the rest of the class in certain proportions. Or, 
if one of the class thought proper to serve, a recruit was to be 
enlisted at their joint expense.* 

Against this noble system of defence, so equitable, so just, so 
unexceptionable — so adequate to its end — so easy and free from 
burden to our citizens — so likely to bring the war to a close, by 
convincing the enemy of the impossibility of making any im- 
pression on us, there was a most hideous outcry raised in and 

* These were the grand important features of various plans submitted to 
Congress, and to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, which were absurdly reject- 
ed to the disgrace and dishonour of both parties. There were some unessen- 
tial differences between ihem, not worth attention in this discussion. To the 
honour of the enlightened and patriotic Legislatui-e of New-York, it was not 
deten-ed by the wretched and factious clamour that prevailed on this subject. 
It passed a.11 act to raise 10,0(^0 men on the cl^lssifiQatjon plan. 



35S POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 65. 

out of congress— an outcry highly disgraceful and factious. It 
was branded with the odious name of " Conscription^^'' and iden- 
tified with the PVench system, whereby the whole male popula- 
tion of France was subject to the despotic will and pleasure of 
the executive. 

To the passions of the people the most inflammatory appeals 
were made. A most lamentable delusion prevailed on the sub- 
ject. The attempt was of course defeated. Many of our citi- 
zens were, by unceasing efforts, led to believe, that the plan was 
Avholly unprecedented in this country ; that it was utterly un- 
constitutional and pernicious ; and that it was intended as the 
basis of a military despotism. And to such an awful extent was 
the frenzy carried, that open resistance was publickly threatened. 
Sexegenarian veterans, shaking their hoarj^ locks, and burnishing 
their rusty, revolutionary arms, were disposed to punish, at the 
point of the bayonet, those whom they were taught to regard as 
violators of the constitution. 

It is hardly possible to conceive of a more awful, or more dis- 
graceful delusion. Never were the public cuUibility and cre- 
dulity more miserably played upon ; for, as I have already 
observed, it is hardly possible to contrive a plan of public defence 
more just, more rational, more unexceptionable, or more effi- 
cient. 

Let us calmly examine the matter. Recruits for a year, or 
for the war. Could have been readily procured at any time for 
about two hundred dollars. Of course, the tax on each indivi- 
dual, of twenty-five persons bound to funiish a recruit, would be 
only eight dollars, for which he would be exempt from all the 
dangers, and hardships, and privations of a military life ! 

The British ministry would probably have made immense 
sacrifices to prevent the establishment of such a system. It was 
the measure most really formidable and efficient against their 
veteran armies, that had been devised. But surely this ought to 
have been no reason why American legislators should oppose 
it — or why the factious or tumultuous meetings, held to denounce 
the system, should be eulogized as displays of " the spirit of se- 
venty-six.''''* Had such a wretched spirit prevailed in '76, this 
glorious country would never have emerged from its colonial 
and dependent state. 

From the extreme abhorrence of wars and fightings, manifest- 
ed by some of the members of congress — from the wailings, 
and whinings, and lamentations, and strong sensibilities, at the 
possible loss of a single life, a stranger might suppose they were 
quakers or menonists, who were not merely conscientiously 
scrupulous against carrying arms themselves, but principled 

* In several parts of the union, factious and seditious meetings were held to 
denounce this plan, Avliose proceedings were detailed in many of our papers, 
headed in Iar§^e letters with the words, " SPIRIT of TG." 



«HAP. 6o.l MILITIA DEFENCE. 357 

against warfare altogether. And from the delicacy of their 
constitutional exceptions and objections, it might be rtasonably 
presumed, if the constitution were not at war with such pre- 
sumption, that there was no power given, or intended to be con- 
veyed, to the general government, to command or coerce the 
military service of any individual citizen. It would appear, 
that the citizens of the United States had obtained letters pa- 
tent from Heaven for enjoying all the benefits of society and of 
self-government, without risking either life or limb — or shed- 
ding a drop of blood in their defence. 

While the public delusion on this topic lasted, argument was 
useless. Prejudice, and passion, and irrationality, almost uni- 
versally predominated. But every species of folly and madness 
has its day. When the spell is dissolved, it becomes harmless 
and inoffensive. It is then a fair subject of Inquiry and investi- 
gation. The understanding of the public may be addressed with 
a tolerable chance of success. 

I therefore venture to discuss the subject, and solicit the calm 
attention of the reader. In case of future wars, from which we 
cannot hope to be exempt, it may be of considerable importance 
to establish correct opinions on a subject of such immense magni- 
tude, — I mean the most eligible mode of public defence. 

I undertake to prove these seven points : — 

1. That there is no principle more clearly recognized and es- 
tablished in the constitutions and laws of the several states, than 

THE RIGHT OF SOCIETY TO REQUIRE AND COERCE, AS WELL AS 
THE DUTY OF THE CITIZEN TO AFFORD, MILITARY SERVICE FOR 
THE GENERAL DEFENCE. 

2. That the power of congress to call forth, and order the 
employment of, the militia, in cases of invasion^ rebellion, or in- 
surrection, is as clearly established as any other power vested in 
that body. 

3. That the mode of drafting, generally prescribed by the mi- 
litia laws of the several states, is oppressive, unequal, and unjust. 

4. That the force so drafted is generally inefficient, and enor- 
mously expensive. 

5. That the system of classification is the most impartial — the 
most efficacious — and the least oppressive mode of calling into 
operation the militia, of any of the plans that have ever been de- 
vised. 

6. That the proposed system of classification prevailed du- 
ring the revolution — and of course, instead of having been bor- 
rowed from France, by our present rulers, was, if borrowed at 
all, borrowed by her from this country. 

7. That the classification or conscription system, elaborately 
matured by genei-al Knox, and stamped with the seal of general 
Washington's approbation, was more strict and extensive in its 
provisions, than any of the recent plans. 

O. B. 47 



3^8 POUTICAL OLrV'E BRANCH. [chap. 66. 

CHAPTER LXVI. 

Right of society to coerce^ and duty of the citizens to afford^ mili- 
tary service^ recognized by the constitutions and larvs of the se- 
veral states. Mode of drafting militia unjust and oppressive. 

To establish my first point, that " there is no principle more 
clearly recognized, and established, in the constitutions and laws 
of the several states, than the right of society to require and co- 
erce, as well as the duty of the citizen to afford, military service 
for the general defence," I submit to the reader, the most sa- 
tisfactory extracts from the constitutions of New-Hampshire, 
Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
and Kentucky ; and from the militia laws of Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, Rhode Island, New. York, New-Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, and Kentucky. These 
are all the states whose statute books I have been able to procure. 

The declaration of rights of the state of New-Hampshire, ex- 
pressly provides, that 

"Every member of the community has a right to be protected by it, in the 
eniovmcnt of his life, hberty and property : he is therefore bound to contribute 
his share to the expense of such protection ; and TO YIELD HIS PERSONAL 
SERVICE WHEN NECESSARY, or an equivalent." 

It gives the governor for the time being, complete and plenary 
power, " by himself or any chief commander or officers," 

•' To train, instruct, exercise, and govern the militia and navy ; and for the 
special defence and safety of the state, to assemble in martial array, and piit in 
•warlike postjcre the inhabitants thereof,- and to lead and conduct them ; and with 
them encounter, repulse, resist, and pursue by force of arms, as well by sea 
as by land, -within and loithont the limits of the state, every such person or persons 
as shall at any future time attempt the destruction, invasion, detriment, or an- 
noyance of the state." 

It further invests the governor with the mighty and tremen- 
dous power, 

" To use and exercise over the army and navy, and over the militia in actual 
service, THE LAW MARTIAL IN TIME OF W AR, INVASION, AND ALSO 
IN REBELLION, declared by the legislature to exist, as occasion shall neces- 
sarily require." 

Nothing can be more clear and explicit than these provisions. 
They level in the dust the volumes of rant and declamation, 
which have been uttered in congress, and with which the press 
has teemed on this important topic. 

The constitution of the'state of Massachusetts contains the 
same provisions, couched in the very same words, as that ol 
New-Hampshire. One has been obviously copied from the 
other. It is therefore unnecessary for me to make any extract 
from that of the former state. I refer the reader to the volume 
of the Constitutions of the United States. 

The constitution of New York explicitly declaires, that 



cuAP. 66.] MILITIA DEFENCE. 359 

" Whereas it is of the utmost importance to the safety of every state, that it 
should always be in a condition of defence, and IT IS THE DUTY OF EVERY 
MAN WHO ENJOYS THE PROTECTION OF SOCIETY, TO BE PHEP\- 
RED AND WILLING TO DEFEND IT : Therefore tliis convention, in the 
name and by the authority of the g-ood people of this state, doth ordain, deter- 
mine, and declare, that the militia of this state, at all times hereafter, as well in 
peace as in war, skall be armed and disciplined, and IN READINESS FOR 
SERVICE." 

The declaration of rights of the constitution of Vermont, states 
that 

" Every member of society hath a rig-ht to be protected in the enjojTnent of 
life, liberty, and property ; and therefore is bound to contribute his proportion 
towards the expenses of "that protection, and YIELD HIS PERSONAL SER- 
VICE, when necessary, or an equivalent thereto,***. J\'or caii unii man ivlio is 
conscientiously scmpuloiis of bearing arms, bejustlij compelled thereto, IF HE WTLL 
PAY SUCH EQUIVALENT." 

The old constitution of Pennsylvania is in unison with those 
already quoted — viz. 

" Every member of society hath a right to be protected in the enjoyment of 
life, liberty, and property ; and therefore is bound to contribute his proportion to- 
luards the expense of that protection, or an equivalent thereto; but no part of a 
man's property can be justly taken from him, and applied to public uses, with- 
out his consent, or that of his legal representatives ; nor can any man who is 
conscientiously scrupulous of bearing" arms, be justly compelled thereto, if he 
will pay such an equivalent." 

The existing constitution of Pennsylvania is equally clear : 

" The freemen of this commonwealth shall be armed and disciplined for its de- 
fence. Those who conscientiously scruple to bear arms, shall not be compelled 
to do so ; but shall pay an equivalent for personal service.'^ 

Kentucky holds the same language — 

" The freemen of this commonwealth (negroes, mulattoes, and Indians ex- 
cepted) shall be armed and disciplined for its defence. Those who conscientious- 
ly scruple to bear arms, shall not be compelled to do so ; but shall pay an equiv- 
alent for personal service." 

The old constitution of Delaware has a clause nearly verbatim 

with some of the preceding — 

"Every member of society liath a right to be protected in the enjoyment of 
life, liberty, and property ; and is therefore bound to contribute his proportion 
towards the expense of that protection, and YIELD HIS PERSONAL SER- 
VICE, when necessary, or an equivalent thereto." 

I presume I might here dismiss the subject. It is impossible 
to resist the conviction the foregoing clauses flash on the mind. 
They strike cavilling and casuistry, declamation and sophistry, 
dead, as with the forked lightning. The wisest and best men of 
seven states, engaged in the all-important duty of framing forms 
of government for their fellow-citizens, solemnly recognize the 
paramount right of society to coerce, and the imperious duty of 
the citizen to affoi'd, personal service, or an equivalent, for the 
general defence. And the intelligent and respectable men who 
framed the constitutions of New-Hampshire and Massachusetts, 
invested the governors with the power to lead the militia in pur- 



360 POLITICAL OLI^T^ BRANCH. [chap. 66. 

suit of an enemy, " within and without the state,''^ and to exercise 
MAHllAL LAW on the militia, as well as on the regular 
army. 

I now proceed to detail the legal provisions on this point. — 
They M'ill be fomid equally clear and conclusive. I begin with 
Massachusetts. 

" Whenever the governor, or commander in chief, shall order a delachment 
from tlie militia aforesaid, and any person wlio shall be detaclicd in obedience 
to such orders, being duly notified thereof, and ordered to march to the place 
of rendezvous, s/ialt neglect or refuse to obey such order,- or shall not, ivilhintwenti/ 
four hours after he shall have been notified as aforesaid, pay a fine often pounds to 
the captain or commandivg officer of the compan i/ to xvhich he shall belong, or procure 
an able-bodied man in his stead, SlJC 1 1 PERSON SHALL BE CONSIUEKED AS 
A SOLDIER IN SUCH DETACHMENT, AND BE DEALT AVITH ACCORD- 
INGLY ; and in all cases where the said fine shall be paid, the same shall he 
applied to liiring men for any service which stiall be required of the company 
under the command of the captain or officer who shaU receive the same."* 

Should any commissioned officer of the militia refuse to make 
a detachment from the corps under his command, for the purpose 
of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, &c. then 

" In addition to the punishment which may be inflicted by virtue of any act 
for regulating the militia, if convicted thereof before the justices of the su- 
preme judicial court, he shall be subject to be fined ni a sum not exceeding fifty 
pounds, and to be adjudged incapable of sustaining any office in the coiimwnwealth 
for a term not exceeding ten years,- to either or both of the said penalties ac- 
cording to the aggravation of tiie offence and circumstances of the offender, as 
to the justices of the said coui-t shall seem meet. 

" And be it further enacted. That if any person, whether non-commissioned 
officer or private, and belonging either to the train band or alarm list, who 
shall be detached or ordered to march for the support of the civil authority, or 
suppression of any insurrection, existing or apprehended, as aforesaid, shall refuse 
or neglect to mai-ch, armed and equipped, in tlie manner and at the time wluch 
the officer l)y whom he shall be detached sliall direct, or shall desert or leave 
the service before he shall be regularly discharged, if convicted thereof before 
the justices of the supreme j udicial court, he shall be subject to be fined at the dis- 
cretion of the said court, in a sum not exceeding ten pounds. 

•' And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Tliatifany person, in 
public or private conversation, or by any ways or means, shall dissuade or endea- 
vour to prrvetit any military officer from perforndng the duty required of him hy thin 
act, or any person or persons, detached or ordered to march for the purpose 
aforesaid, from marching to the place of rendezvous, or from continuing in the 
Sfei'vice until regularly discharged, each person so oHi?nding, being convicted 
thereof, as aforesaid, sliall pay a fine to the use of the commonwealth, not ex- 
ceeding FIFTY POUNDS, and shall recognize for his good behaviour for a term 
not exceeding three years."i[ 

I hope the reader will compare these sections with the most 
rigorous of those contained in Mr. Monroe's or Mr. Giles's plans. 
Candour will compel him to acknowledge, that the latter are 
incomparably less burdensome and oppressive than the former. 

The statute of Connecticut respecting the militia, adopts the 
regulation of the act of congress, whereby every free able-bodied 
white man, between the ages of 18 and 45, is declared subject 

* Permanent laws of Massachusetts, vol. I. page 314. 
■f Idem, page 330. 



QHAP. 65.] mLITIA DETENCE, 361 

to militia duty. It further exempts quakers from that duty, on 
the payment of three doUars and thirty cents per annum. It then 
invests the captain general with power, in certain specified cases, 
to order out even the xvliole of the militia or miHtarij force of the 
state. I submit the very strong and expressive clause to the 
reader : 

" The captain g-eneral, or, in bis absence, the next commanding officer of 
state, is hereby authorised and empowered, as he may judge necessary, upon the. 
occasion of an alann, invasion, or notice of the appearance of an enemy, cither by 
sea or by land, to order out the WHOLE or any part of the military force of tJus 
state ; to assemble and put the same in warlike order ; and the same to lead, or- 
der, and employ, for the assistance or relieving any of the inhabitants of this state, at- 
tacked by an. enemy, or in danger thereof; and generally to issue and publish, by 
proper staffer orderly officer, such orders as he shall judge expedient, to carry 
into execution the intent and design of this act."* 

The militia law of New York is equally clear and explicit — 

" The commander in chief of this state may, tri case of invasion or other emer- 
q-ency, when he shall judge it necessary, order out AN \ fKOA'CJU'riONT OF THE 
iVULITIA OF THIS STATE TO MARCH TO ANY PART THEREOF, and 

continue as lo7ig as he may think necessary ,• and like-cvise may, in consequence of an 
application of the execiitiifp of any of the United States, on an invasion or insurrec- 
tion, or an cipprehension of an invasion of such state, AT HIS DISCRETION ordei- 
ANY NUMRER OP THE MILITIA, not exceeding one third part thereof, TO 
SUCH STATE : Provided, That they be not compelled to continue on duty 
oat of this state more tlian forty days at one time ; that while in actual service, 
in consequence of being so called out, they shall receive the same pay and ra- 
tions, and be subject to the same rides eind regulations as the troops of the United 
States of ,^menca."-\ 

New- Jersey has not been deficient in making similar provision 
for the public safety. Her militia law declares, 

" That the commander in chief of this state, for the time being, may, in case 
of invasion or other emergency, WHEN HE SHALL JUDGE IT NECESSARY, 
order out any proportion of the militia of this state, to march to any part thereof, 
and continue as long as he may think it necessary, not exceeding two months."t 

She imposes a heavy and burdensome fine on delinquents — a 
line which the poorer classes cannot pay, and which, of course, 
inevitably compels them to the service. 

" Any person refusing or neglecting to perform his tour of duty, or to pro- 
cure a substitute, shall pay a fine of twenty dollars for every sucii neglect or re- 
fusal. § 

" If any militia man shall desert while he is on a tour of duty, he shall be fin- 
ed in any sum not exceeding twenty dollars for every sucl) olt'ence ; or may be 
imprisoned fur any time not exceeding two months, at the discretion of a court 
martial ; and, if a non-commissioned officer, he shall also be degraded and placed 
in the ranks." || 

I next proceed to state the law in Pennsylvania. — The same 
good sense that presided over the decision on this subject in the 
other states, is discernible here : 

* Statute laws of Connecticut, page 310. 

■f Laws of the state of Mew-York, vol. I. page 512. 

Jf Patterson's laws of Ne\v-Jer.sey, page 441. 

§ Idem, pag-e 442. 

y Idem, page 443, 



362 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 66. 

*' Whenever It may be necessary to call into actual service any part of the 
militia, in case of rebellion, or oi" actual or threatened invasion, of this or any of 
the neif^-hbouring states, then it shall and may be laiuful for the governor to order 
into actual service, SUCH PART OF THE MILITIA, BY CLASSES, AS THE 
EXIGENCY MAY REQUIRE ; provided that the part so called, doth not ex- 
ceed four classes of the militia of any brigade."* 

" If anymilitiaman shall desert ivhile he is on a tour of duty, he shall be fined 
thirty-l-vo dollars for every such offence, and be obliged to march on the next tour 
of duty, under the same penalties as at first. If a non-commissioned officer 
shall so desert, he shall be degraded and placed in the ranks ; shall pay a fine 
of thirty six dollars ; and be obliged to serve another tour as a private."! 

" The militia of the state, while in the actual service thereof, or of the United 
States, shall be subject to the same rules and reg^dations as the federal urmy."^ 

The little state of Delaware recognises the same principles — 
the same rights — the same duties — of which I have shewn the 
recognition in so many other states. 

" The governor shall have full power and authority, in case of an invasion, 
rebellion, or irisurrection xvithin the state, or any of the neighbouring states, to call into 
service such part of the vdlitia by classes, as to him shall seem necessary ,- and in 
case of the absence of the governor of this state, on any insuiTCCtion, rebellion, 
or invasion, the commanding officer of each brigade is hereby authorised and direct- 
ed to issue his orders to call out such part of the militia as }w may judge immediately 
necessary."^ 

The provisions of the militia law of Maryland are equally 
strong and unequivocal. 

" In all cases w^here a militiaman may be drafted to perform a tour of duty 
imder the laws of this state, he shall be considered as a soldier, and liable to all the^ 
duties as such, unless he shall furnish a substitute: and the lieutenant colonel of 
the regiment, or commanding oflScer of the extra battalion, as the case may be, 
tp which he may belong, shall be the sole judges of the qualification of .said sub- 
stitute ; and may receive him or reject him at their discretion. "|| 

" If a sudden invasion shall be made into any county in this state, or in case 
of an insurrection in any county, the commanding officer in such county is here- 
by AUTHORISED AND REQUIRED to order out THE WHOLE or such part of 
his militia as he may think necessary, and in such manner as he may think best, for 
repelling such invasion, or suppressing such insurrection ; and shall call on the 
commanding officers of regiments in the adjacent counties, for such aid as he 
may think necessary ; ivho shall forthioitlt in like manner furnish the same."1 

By the militia law of the state of Georgia, every male citizen 
who has resided within the state for ten days^ if of the proper 
age, is subject to perform military duty.** This carries the 
right of society to coerce the citizen to military duty in public 
defence, to the utmost extent. 

The duty of the governor, in the case of insurrection or inva- 
sion, is as explicitly and unequivocally stated in the militia law 
of Georgia, as in those already quoted : — 

* Purdon's Abridgment of the laws of Pennsylvania, page 381. 

I Iih-m, page 384. 
t Idem, page 386. 

§ Laws of Delaware (Wilmington, 1793,) page 213. 

II Kelty's Laws of Maryland, vol. II. 1798, chap. c. 
1 Ibid. 

** Digest of Laws of Georgia, page 460, 



CHAF. 67.) MILITIA DEFENCE, 553 

*' His excellency the governor is hereby empowered to assemble and embody 
such part of the militia of the state as he may from tinie to time think neces- 
sary, to repel any invasion, insurrection, or rebellion, winch may happen with- 
in the same, and to order such officers to command the said mihtia as he may 
see fit."* 

Kentucky has been equally mindful with her sister states, of 
the great duty of making adequate provision for the public safety. 

" Every able-bodied male citizen, of this or any of the United States, resid- 
ing in this state, who is of the age of eighteen and under forty -five, shall be en- 
roUed by the commanding officer of the company within whose bounds he may 
reside."! 

" The governor shall have power to call forth such parts of the miUtia as he 
may judge necessary, in time of war, invasion, or insun-ection, or when the dan- 
ger may be such that the public safety shall requu'e it." 

" The militia, when in the service of this state, shall be governed by tlie ar- 
ticles of war, which shall be in force in the continental army .":{: 

By the law of Rhode Island, like the others I have quoted, 
the militia, when in actual service, are regarded as soldiers, and 
subject to martial law — 

" Whenever the military force of this state, or any part thereof, shall be call- 
ed into actual service, it shall be subject to the articles of war, pi-escribed by con- 
gress for the government of the troops of the United States."i| 

These are, as I have already observed, all the states whose 
statute laws I have been able to procure. They are, I presume, 
adequate to the purpose. It is not to be doubted, that similar 
provisions exist in all the others. 

CHAPTER LXVII. 

Power of Congress to call out the Militia. The usual mode of 
drafting oppressive^ unequal^ and unjust. 

My second position is, " that the power of congress to call 
forth, and order the employment of, the militia, is as clearly es- 
tablished as any other power vested in that body." 

The general defence of the nation is confided to congress. 
This is their incumbent duty. The means and power to per- 
form this duty are vested in them by the constitution. They 
are authorised and empowered — 

" To raise and support armies." 

The exercise of this power has not been, nor can it be, called in 
question. They are further authorised and empowered — 

" To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union ; sup^ 
press iimirreciion ; and REPEL INVASIONS," 

I beg the reader will carefully examine this clause over and 
over. It requires the most serious and sober reflection. Here 

• Idem, page 465. 

f Toulmin's Laws of Kentucky, page 78. 
\ Idem, page 80. 

U Public Laws of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 
Providence. 1798, Page 440. 



364 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 67. 

is a clear, explicit, and most unequivocal power given to the 
general government by the constitution of the United States, to 
call forth the militia in three specified cases. One is '' to repel 
invasion.'''' The country was '•''invaded^'' during the last war. 
And yet every attempt to carry this power into operatioii, in 
the mode most efficient and least burdensome, was opposed and 
defeated by men of high standing, great talents, and professing 
a sacred regard to the honour and interests of their country ! ! ! 
And the whole of the opposition rested on the absuixl, the un- 
tenable ground of the measvu'e being " unconstituUonaV And 
this wretched pretext was blmdly admitted and defended by a 
large portion of our citizens ! It will be difficult for posterity to 
give credence to the existence of such miserable folly on the 
part of their ancestors, who had nearly put on record the modest 
declaration, that they were " the most enlightened nation on the 
surface of the globe." 

As a specimen of the declamation used on this subject, I an- 
nex a short extract from a speech delivered by Cyrus King, 
member of the house of representatives of the United States, 
from the state of Massachusetts. 

*' If wliat I have urg-ed, will not induce you to aiTest the progress of this 
bill, T appeal to you, I beseech you, as friends to humanity, to spare the tears 
which tlie passage of tliis bill will cause to flow ! I appeal to you as fathers, by 
every endearing- tie which binds you to your children, not to deprive the aged 
parent of the child of his youth ! tlie support and solace of his declining years ! 
lest you bring his g'rey hairs with sorrow to the grave ! I entreat you to make 
the case your own ! suppose a darling child ! an only son snatched from you 
by tlie scourge of war ! in the language of grief and nature, you would ex- 
claim : " would to God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son ! my son !" 

This was the miserable rant bv which our fathers and our 
mothers — our wives and our children — our towns and our cities 
— were deprived of protection, and, but for the peace, would 
have been delivered defenceless to the enemy ! 

Mr. Miller, of New York, was equally eloquent in his denun- 
ciation of this system. I lay before the reader a specimen of the 
cogent and con'u'incing arguments he used : — 

" I object, sir, to the whole system of force and coercion; and contend that 
under this constitution you have no riglit to raise armies except by voluntaiy 
enhstmcnt; and fiu'ther, that if you had the right, it would not be discreet to 
exercise it. 

•' The plan which gentlemen wish adopted is conscription! They call it clas- 
sijication and penalty — classification and draft — sir, tltcve is poison in the dish ,■ 
garnish it as you please, there is poison still. You call it classification ! I stickle 
not for names — " a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Is this 
classification P Disguise thyself as thou wilt, slavery, still thou art a bitter 
draught." Tlie times demand that things should be called by their right names. 
This is conscription, and ii'ith features, more hideous, than are to be found in the 
exploded system (four luiforttuiate cousin of Elba .' ! !* 

* Perhaps a more extravagant, groundless, and absurd assertion was never 
hazarded before. It is very difficult to compare the two systems together, 
there is such an immense difference between thgrn. I shall state but one sin- 



CHAP. 67.] MILITIA DEFENCE. 365 

" By this system the people of these United States, will be in.itantlv and/or- 
elbly transfonned into soldiers — the ordinary course of lite must be abandoned, 
for the perils and vexations of a camp ! Our peaceful occupations must be for- 
saken. The merchant must quit his counting house ; the farmer his plough ; 
the mechanic his work shop ; the professional man his pursuits — all, all must 
become soldiers ! — Our sons and our brothers, those who are to be tlie " future 
men'' of this country, instead of laying the foundation for future usefulness, 
must be sut^jected to the moral and physical evils of a camp. All the habits of 
domestic life must be annihilated, and all its endearments outraged or disi'e- 
jfarded. Tiie husband must be torn from his wife and children, and tiie child 
forcibly separated from the society and protection of his parents. I beseech 
gentlemen to pause before they venture upon a system like this. 

" This plan violates the constitution of ijoitr country. It invades the rights of 
the state governments; it is a direct infring-ement^ of their sovereignty. It 
concentrates all power in the general government, and deprives the states of 
their " necessary security." It does away all claim to personal freedom. It is a 
daring attempt upon the rights and liberties of this people. 

*^ Armies diVe. the forces of t/ie United States, with which they are to carry on 
their wars; and are subject to their exclusive jurisdiction and coiitroul. £ut 
the militia are the state troops, which congress have no power to raise. They are a 
force existing, known, and acknowledged at the time of the adoption of this 
constitution ; existing without the aid or concuiTcnce of the general govern- 
ment. The general poiver over the militia resides in the states ; a particidar au- 
thori'y for objects defined, was carved out of that general power, and granted 
to the United States." 

When the reader has attentively perused all this rhapsody, 
and is almost terrified to death by reflection on the frightful des- 
potism which was preparing to swallow up our freedom and hap- 
piness, he has, in order to calm the ebullitions of his indignation 
' — to restore his tranquillity — only to read two lines of the con- 
stitution, granting the power, and dictating the duty of the ge- 
neral government, " to call forth the jnilitia, to repel invasion.^^ 
Let him then ascertain the fact, that the country was actaally 
invaded a.t the very time wheii Mr. Miller so confidently, in the 
face of the constitution, dared to assert, that " the militia are the 
state troops, which congress have no power to raise.'''' When he 
has proceeded thus far, he will soon be convinced that all the 
long, declamatory, and inflammatory speeches on this subject, 
which occupied so many Aveeks of the time of congress, v/ere 
mere " sound and fury, ^'' 

To return. The constitution further authorizes the general 
government — 

" To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia ; and, for 
governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United Slatss." 

This last power is merely limited and qualified by the reser- 
vation, to the several states, of the appointinent ofoflicers, and 
training the men. The limitation is in these words : 

.gle feature of that difference. In France it was hai'dly possible to induce go. 
vernment to accept of substitutes, ard never without great interest and immense 
pecuniary saci'ifices ; and of course those persons conscripted were almost uni- 
versally obliged to serve, in spite of their utmost opposition ; whereas, by the 
American act, express provision was made fop subbtitutss, and no man need 
serve, who could raise eight or ten dollars ! ' 
0. B. 48 



366 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH, [chap. 67. 

" Reserving to the states respectively the appoint mciit of the officers, and 
the ail Liiority of training the militia according to the disciphne proposed by 
congress." 

A calm and candid review of these clear delegations of power, 
cannot fail to result in a conviction, that in all cases of obstruc- 
tions to the laws— of insurrection — or invasion — the right, the 
power, and duty of congress, to order out the militia, are as clear 
a right, power, and duty, as ever were conveyed or ordained liy 
any instrument, public or private. It follows, that the attempt 
to defeat this grant of power, was antifederal and factious, and 
had a tendency to destroy the government. 

I SHALL now proceed to prove, " that the existing mode of 
drafting the militia, is oppressive, unequal, and unjust." 

In nearly all the states, as we have seen, the governor is au- 
thorised, in certain specified cases, to call the militia into ser- 
vice, in such numbers and proportions as he may judge proper. 
He possesses plenary discretiimary powers. He may raise the 
whole in three or four counties, or he may divide them equally 
among all the counties in the state. 

This discretionary power is highly exceptionable on the 
ground of favouritism ; and is in direct hostility with the gene- 
ral spirit of all our institutions, which universally define duties 
and limit powers with grt at precision. It will not, it cannot, be 
denied, that it is liable to considerable abuse. 

But I shall not consider the danger of its abuse. The discus- 
sion of this objection, great and powerful as it is, does not come 
within my present plan. I shall suppose the power exercised 
with sound judgment and strict impartiality, so far as the latter 
requisite is compatible Vvith the present system. It is still liable 
to the most serious and solid objections. It is radically and in- 
curably defective. Its operation is unjust, unequal, and oppres- 
sive. Let us examine how it is carried into operation. 

Suppose there are ten counties in a state, each containing 
10,000 militia — and that the presence of an invading foe induces 
the presider.t to make a call upon the governor for a draft of 
5,000 men. It is obvious, that the most equitable and impartial 
mode of drafting them, according to the present miserable sys- 
tem, will be, to make a requisition of 500 out of each county. 
But it is generally made on two or three neighbourhoods, as 
near to the place of danger as possible, while the remainder of 
the state is wholly exempt from the duty. The extreme op- 
pression and injustice of this mode are too palpable to require 
en£Q£.cement. 

And it is impossible to remove its radical injustice ; for in 
whatev r way they are drawn, the burden, the risk of health, and 
life, the sacrifice of business, the expenses of a camp, and all the 
other di '^advantages of military duty, which ought to be borne, 
or pp.i ■ for, equally, by 100,000 persons, fall exclusively on 
5,000. It is impossible for the human mind to conceive of any 



HH^r. 68.) jMILITIA DEFE^XE. ^ 367 

system much more unequal, unjust, absurd, or contemptible. 
Five thousand citizens bear all the burden of military service 
for the protection of 93,000, who neither run risk incur ex- 
pense, nor suffer any inconvenience ! 

It is an arduous task to impress the public mind with a correct 
sense of the folly or absm-dity of laws or customs, which have 
'■^^ g-roxvn with the groxvth'''' of society. This renders it difficult 
in all countries, to gain a fair or patient hearing for arguments 
against the established order of things, how^ever contrary to rea- 
son, common sense, or common justice. But 1 ,t us, in order to 
display the injustice of this wretched principle, extend it to the 
affair of taxation. This will render it more palpable and strik- 
ing. Suppose a law were passed to oblige 5,000 men to pay all 
the taxes of 95,000 others, who were themselves to be totally ex- 
empt from taxation! What an uproar w^ould it not excite ! The 
clamour would be loud and general with the parties that suffer- 
ed the oppression, who would by force resist the operation of it. 
Yet the injustice of such a law is far inferior to that of the ex- 
isting militia system, to which we submit without murmur — 
and not merely submit without murmur, but were of late sense- 
lessly ready to rise in insurrection, to prevent any melioration of 
such vile oppression ! I say inferior; because the burden of mi- 
litary service is far more onerous than that of taxation. If this 
do not prove the propriety, truth, and justice of our claim to the 
title of " the most enlightened nation in the >vorld," I am afraid 
it will never be established. 

CHAPTER LXVIII. 

Inejfficiency of Jllilitia generally. Extravagantly expensive. Ge?i' 
eral Washington's testimony on the siibject full and complete. 

My fourth position is, that " the force thus drafted is general- 
ly inefficient, and ruinously expensive." 

At present, the militia are collected together in a disorderly 
and irregular manner. The materials are as discordant and in- 
coherent as the mind can conceive. The men are unaccustomed 
to discipline — they have very loose ideas on the subject of sub- 
ordination. They have little experience — less military skill* — 

* " To place any dependence on militia, is assi/redhi resting upon a broken staff 
— men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life — uiuiccnstomed to 
the din of arms — totally unacquainted with every kindof military skill; which 
beins^ followed by a want of confidence in themselves, when opposed to troops 
regularly trained, disciplined, and appointed, sviperior in knowledg-e and su- 
perior in arms, makes them timid and ready to fly from their own sliadows. Be- 
sides, the sudden change in their manner of living, (particularly in the lodging) 
brings on sickness in many, impatience in all, ami such an nnconquerabk desire 
of returning to their respective Jiomes, that it not onlii produces shaniefi/l and scanda- 
lous desertions among- themselves, hut infuses the lil-e spirit into others." Gcnerid 
AVashington's letters, London edition, vol. I. page 270. 



368 POLITICAL OLR^E BRANCH [chap. 68- 

little confidence in themselves — little in their officers — and their 
officers are not so void of justice as to lavish any large portion 
of confidence on them. 

Suppose them, thus assembled, thus officered, thus qualified 
— to encounter a disciplined foe of half their numbers, in the 
openjield. And we must tixkc the open field into our calcula- 
tion. Lamentable would be the issue. On the one side would 
be a band of hardened desperadoes, inured to slaughter — repos- 
ing full reliance in their officers — and marching forward with 
that confidence in themselves, which is the harbinger and pre- 
sage of victory. On the other, men utterly undisciplined — dis- 
trusting each other, and distrusting themselves — and under of- 
ficers chosen, in most cases, not for their military talents and 
endowments, but for companionable qualities, which, however 
agreeable in the social circle, are of no avail in the tented field. 

The mind sickens at the contemplation of the result. Nothing 
shoi't of a miracle, can render it prosperous to the militia. The 
chances are immensely against them. They may be said to be 
literally led to slaughter — the result being too generally a most 
frightful carnage. 

There is a further consideration, which greatly enhances the 
horror of this contemplation. The materials of the two hostile 
bodies are as different as can be conceived. On one side are to 
be seen in the ranks, some of the most invaluable of our citi- 
zens, men with large families, whose whole future happiness 
depends on their preservation — future Washingtons, or Frank- 
lins, or Livingstons, or Dickinsons. On the other, a congeries 
of the refuse of society from all parts of Europe. What a con- 
trast ! It is in fact a game of hazard, at which guineas are staked 
against cents — and at which it is impossible ever to equalize the 
stakes. 

That some of the best men in the world are destitute of per- 
sonal courage — and that some of the worst are abundantly sup- 
plied with it, is well known to every man who has even but su- 
perficially reflected on human nature. Courage is a constitu- 
tional quality, which, when not imparted by nature, can hardly^ 
ever be acquired. And it therefore follows, that in these com- 
pulsory' embodyings of militia, there will be often found men, 
who, however useful they may be in civil life, are wholly un- 
suitable for the camp. Liability to pay for a substitute, or a 
false shame, may lead many of these men to obey the summons 
to the field. But when the clangor of arms sounds, nature, 
whose voice has been disregarded, asserts her sway. Ten men 
of this description may, by spreading a panic, cause the defeat 
of an entire army. 

In political economy, as in all other sciences, it may be laid 
down as an incontrovertible maxim, that wherever there is a 



«HAP, 68-] MILITIA DEFENCE. 369 

Strong and striking opposition between fact and theory, the latteif 
is a fallacious guide, which cannot fail to lead its votaries astray. 
But when theories are supported by facts, they rarely mislead. 

The American revolution is fraught with strong and decisive 
facts on the subject of the militia, which hold out the most unerr- 
ing admonitions. 

The letters of General Washington to congress are replete 
with complaints of the inefficiency, and of the ruinous results, of 
the militia system of the United States. They fully prove, 
moreover, that the cost of militia service is extravagantly high 
• — and that a dependence on militia for regular and continued 
service, is attended with the utmost danger. 

There is no authority on any subject whatever, more com- 
manding, or more decisive, than that of General Washington, 
upon militia defence. In no nation was it ever, probably, more 
fully and completely essayed, than in the United States, during 
the war that eventuated in the acknowledgment of their indepen- 
dence. No man, therefore, ever had a fairer opportunity of 
judging on this topic — and there is no man on whose judgment 
more reliance could be placed. 

As this is a subject of vital importance to the nation — as our 
happiness, and that of our posterity, as well as the safety and 
independence of our country, may, and probably will, depend 
upon a correct system of defence, I have judged it proper to 
produce the most ample display of the general's experience on 
the subject. 

An examination of the dates will shew that the evils com- 
menced with the very dawn of the revolution ; for the first 
complaint of the general is contained in a letter, dated July 10, 
1775, not two months after the battle of Lexington. 

July lOt/i, 1775. 

" All the general officers agree, that no dependence can be put on the militic, 
for a continuance in camp, or regularity and discipline during the short time they 
may stay."* 

July Uth, 1775. 

"From some authentic and late advices of the state of the ministerial troops, 
and the great inconvenience of calling in the militia in the midst of harvest, I have 
been induced for the present to waive it."f 

February 9th, 1776. 

*' Though I am sensible that we never have, since that period, been able to 
act upon the offensive, and been at times not in a condition to defend, yet ths 
cost of marchijig home one set of men — bringing in another — the havcc and ivaste oc~ 
casio7ied by the first — the repairs necessary for the second — with a thousand inciden- 
tal charges and inconveniences which have arisen, and which it is scarcely pos- 
sible either to recollect or describe— amount to near as much as the keeping up a 
respectable body of troops the whole time, ready for any emergency, would have done. 
To bring men well acquainted with the duties of a soldier, requires time- To 

* Official letters to the honourable the American Congi-ess, written during 
the war between tlie United States and Great Britain, by his excellency Gene- 
ral Washington. London, 1795 : vol. I. p, 7- 

t Idem, page 9. 



370 POLITICAL OLIVE BR.\NCII [chap. 63. 

bring them under proper discipline and subordination, not only requires time, 
but is a work of great difficulty ; and in this army, where there is so little dis- 
tinction between the officers and soldiers, requires an unconmion degree of 
attention."* 

" Again, men of a day's standing will not look forward : and from experience 
we find, that, as the time approaches for their discharge, they ffroiv careless of their 
arms, ammunition, camp utensils, cJc. Nay, even the b.arracks themseh'ts have 
felt uncommon marks of wanton depredation, and Lay us under fresh ti-ouble 
and additional expepse in providing for every fresh set, when we find it next 
to impossible to procure such articles as are absolutely necessary in the first 
instance. To this may be added the seasoning wliich new recruits must have 
to a camp, and the loss consequent thereupon. But tliis is not all — mf7i, en- 
t-a^'-ed for a short limited time onlij, have the oncers too much in their power ; for to 
obtain a degree of popularity, in oi'der to induce a second enhstment, a kind of 
familiarity takes place, which brings on a relaxation of discipline, unlicensed 
furloughs, and other indulgences, incompatible with order and good govcrn- 

ment."t 

" There are vet but few companies of the mihtia come in. This delay ivill, 
I am much afraid, fnistrate the intention of their being called upon, as t/ie season 
is slipping fast away when they maybe ofsei^ice"^ 

April 4th, 1776. 
" I heartily wish the money had arrived sooner, that the militia might have 
been paid as soon as their term of service expired. Tlie chsappointment has 
given them great uneasiness, and they are gone home much dissatisfied^^ 

" I would also mention to congress, that the militia regiments wliich were 
last called upon, in making up their abstracts, charged pay — the officers, from 
the time they received orders to raise companies — and the privates, from tlie 
time they respectively engaged to come or were called upon, though they did 
not marcli for a considerable time after — some not within three, four, to twenty 
da\s, during all which they remained at home about their own private affairs, 
without doing any tiling else than " preparing for the march," as they say, by 
way of plea."! 

Jidy 17 th, 1776. 
" The Connecticut light-horse, mentioned in my letter of the 11th, notwith- 
standing their then promise to continue here for the defence of this place, are 
BOW discharged, and are about to return home — having peremptonly refused all 
kinds of fatigue duty, or even to mount guard, claiming exemption as troopers. 
Tlioug"h"the?r assistance is much needed, and miglit be of essential service in 
case of an attack, vet I judged it advisable, on their application and claim of 
such inilulgcnce, to discharge them ; as granting tliem wOuld set an example to 
others, and mlglit produce'many ill consequences. The number of men in- 
cluded in tlie last return, by this is lessened about five hundred."f 

August im, 1775. 
« They, [the British] mean to procrastinate their operations for some time, 
trusting that the militia xvhich have come to our succottr will soon become tired, and 
return home, as is but too usual 'Mth them "** 

August 19th,1776. _ 
" Governor Trumbull,in a letter of the loth, advises me that Ward's regi- 
ment in the service of the state.s, was on the march to this ai-my, and that lie 
and his council of safety had in the whole ordered fourteen militia regiments to rein- 
force us. Three of them have an-ived, and amount to about a thousand and 
twenty men. When tiie whole come in, we sliall be on a much more respect- 
able footing than we liave been ; but I greatly fear, if the enemy defer then- 
attempt for an>' considerable time, they will be extremely impatient to return home ; 
and if tliey should, we shall be reduced to disti-ess agHi?i."ff 

* Idem, page 87. f I'^em, page 88. \ Idem, page 91. 

§ Idem, page 118. || Idem, page 120. t Idem, page 19 

** Idem, page 232. ^jf Idem, page 233. 



«HAr. 68.3 MILITIA DEFENCE. Sri 

The militia, instead of calling^ forth their utmost efforts to a brave ar^ man- 
ly opposition, in order to repair our losses, are dismmied, intractable, and impa- 
iient to return. Great numbers of them have gone off- — in some instances, almost bu 
■zvhole regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a time. This circumstance, of 
itself, independent of others, when fronted by a well-appointed enemy, supe- 
rior in number to our whole collected force, woidd be sufficiently disagreeable 
— but, wlien their example has infected another part of the army — when their 
want of ilisciphne, and refusal of almost every kind of restraint and govern- 
ment, have pi'oduced a like conduct but too common to the whole, and an en : 
tire disregard of that order and subordination necessary to the welldoing of an 
army, and whicli had been incidcated before, as well as the nature of our mili- 
tary establishments would achnit of — our condition is still more alarming ; and 
with the deepest concern I am obliged to confess my want of confidence in the 
generality of the troops. 

•' All these circumstances fully confirm the opinion I ever entertained, and 
which I more than once in my letters took the liberty of mentioning to con- 
g'ress, that no dependence can be pitt on the militia, or other troops than those en- 
listed and embodied for a longer period than our regulations heretofore liave 
prescribed. I am persuaded, and as fully confirmed as I am of any one fact that 
lias happened, that our liberties must of necessity be greatly hazarded, if not 
entirely lost, if their defence is left to any but a permanent standing army — 1 
mean one to exist during the war. Nor would the expense incident to the sup- 
port of such a body of troops as would be competent to almost every exigencv, 
far exceed that which is daily incurred by calling in succour, and new enlist- 
ments, which, when effected, are not attended with any good consequences. 
Men who have been free, and subject to no controul, cannot be reduced to or- 
der in an instant : and the privileges and exemptions tliey claim and will have, 
influence the conduct of others ; and the aid derived from them is nearly counter' 
balanced by the disorder, irregidarity and confusion, they occasion."* 

September 4th, 1776. 
" The militia, under various pretences, of sickness, &c. are daily diminishing ,- 
and in a little time, I am persuaded, their number tuitl be vei'y inconsiderable. "jf 

" The militia from Connecticut is reduced from 6000 to 2000, and in a few 
days will be merely nominal. The arrival of some Maryland troops, &c. from the 
flying camp, has in a great degree supplied the loss of men ; but the ammuni- 
tion they have carried away will be a loss severely felt. 7V impxdse for going 
home xvas so irresistible, it answered no purpose to oppose it. I'hough 1 would not 
discharge, I have been obliged to acquiesce ; and it affords one more melancholy 
proof, hoxv delusive all such dependencies are."i^ 

September 20th, 1776. 
" It is a melancholy and painful consideration to those who are concerned 
in the work, and have the command, to be forming armies constantly, and to be 
left by troops just luheji they begin to deserve the name, or perhaps at a moment when 
an important blow is expected."^ 

September 2'kh, 1776. 
" The thirteen militia reg-iments from Connecticut being reduced to a little 
more than fOO men, rank and file, fit for duty, I have thought proper to discharge 
the whole, to save the states the immense charge that would arise from officers^ pan. 
There are many militia, too, that have just come in, or are on their way from 
that state, none of whom are provided with a tent, or a single camp utensil. 
This distresses me beyond measure. "|| 

September 24th, 1776. 
" Again : men accustomed to unboundetl freedom and no controul, cannot 
brook tlie restraint which is indispensibly necessary to the good order and go- 
vernment of an army ; without which liceiuiousness and every kind of disorder 
reign. To bring men to a pi'oper degree of subordination is not the work of a 

* Idem, page 244. | Idem, page 246, tWem, page 255. 

§ Idem, page 265. || Idem, page 267. 



Z72 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. Cchap. 6S. 

day, 3 month, or even a year : and unhappily for us and the cause we are en- 
gaged ill, the little discipline I have been labouring to establish in the army 
under my immediate command, is in a manner done away by having- such a 
mixture of troops as have been called together within these few months."* 

" Relaxed and unfit as our rules and regulations of war are for the goverw- 
meut of the army, tlie militia, (those properly so called, for of these we have two 
sorts — the six months' men, and those sent in for temporary aid) do not think 
themselves subject to them, and therefore take liberties the soldier is pu- 
nislied for. This creates jealousy ; jealousy begets dissatisfactions ; and these 
by degrees ripen into mutiny, keeping the whole army in a confused and disor- 
dered state — renderuig the time of those who wish to see regularity and good 
order t)revail, more unhappy than words can describe. Besides this, such re- 
peated changes take place, tliat all arrangement is set at nought, and the con- 
stant fluctuation of things deranges every plan as fast as adopted. These, sir, 
congress may be assured, are but a suiall part of the inconveniences which 
migut be enumerated, and attributed to militia ; but there is one that merits 
particular attention, and that is, the expense. Ckutain i am, that it would be 

CHEAPER TO KEEP FIFTI OR A HUNDRED THOUSAND IN CONSTANT PAY, THAN TO DE- 
PEND UPON HALF THE NUMBER, AND SUPPLY THE OTHER HALF OCCASIONALLY BY 

5IILITIA. The time the latter are in pay before and after they are in camp, as- 
sembUng and marching — tlie waste of ammunition, the consumption of stores, 
which in spite of every resolution or requisition in congress, they must be fur- 
nished with or sent home, added to other incidental expenses consequent upon 
their coming to, and conduct in, camp — surpasses all idea, and destroys every 
kind of regularity and economy which you could establish among fixed and re- 
gular troops, and will, in my opinion, prove (if the scheme is adliered to) THE 
ilUlN OF OU;i CAUSE."t 

" The jealousies of a standing army, and the evils to be apprehended from 
one, are remote ; and, in my judgment, situated and circumstanced as we are, 
not at all to be dreaded : but the consequence of wanting one, according to 
my ideas, formed from the present view of things, is certain andinexiiable ndn. 
For if I -was called upon to declare upon oath, ivhether the militia have been most ser- 
•viceable or hurtful, up'ni the -whole, I should subscribe to the latter. I do not mean 
by this, however, to arraign the conduct of congi-ess : in so doing-, 1 should 
equally condemn my own measures, if I did not my judgment : but experience, 
which is the best criterion to work by, so fully, clearly, and decisively repro- 




FOR 
THEAI 

UPO>3' THIS ISSUE. An army fonned by good officers moves like clock 
w^ork : btit there is no situation on earth less enviable, nor more distressing, 
than that of a person who is at the head of troops who are regardless of order 
and discipline, and who are unprovided with almost every necessary. In a 
word, tlie difficulties which have for ever surrounded me since I have been in 
the service, and kept iny mind constantly upon the stretch — the wounds which 
my feelings (as an officer) have received hy a thousand things v/hich liave hap- 
pened contrary to my expectations and wishes, added to a consciousness of 
inabiliti] to govern an armij composed of such discordant parts, and under such a 
variety of intricate ami perplexing circumstances, induce not only a belief, but 
a thorough conviction in my mind, that it will be impossible (unless there is a 
thorough cliange in our military system) for me to conduct matters in such a 
manner as to ^'we satisfaction to the pubhc, which is all the recompense I aim 
at, or ever wislied for."i: 

September 30, 1776. 
" By a letter received from the committee of safety in the state of Nev/ 
Ilampsiiirc, I find a thousand of their militia were about to march the 24th 
tiltimo, to rclnfi)rce this army, in consequence of the requisition of congi-css. 
Previous to their march, general Ward writes me, he was obliged to furnjsh 
them with five hundred pounds of powder, and a thousand pounds of musket 

• Idem, page 271. j Idem, page 272. + Idem, page 273. 



CEAP. 68.] MILITIA DEFENCE. 373 

ball ; and I have little reason to expect that they are better provided with 
other articles than they were with ammunition. In this case, they wiU only 
add to our present distress, which is already far too great, and become disgust- 
ed with the service, THOUGH THE TIME THEY WERE ENGAGED FOR 
IS ONLY TILL THE FIRST OF DECEMBER— this wiU injure their enlisting 
for a longer time, if not wholly prevent it."* 

Ociober ith, 1776. 
" Upon the present plan, T plainly foresee an intervention of time between 
the old and new army, which must be filled up with militia (if to be had) WITH 
WHOM NO MAN WHO HAS ANY REGARD FOR HIS REPUTATION, 
CAN UNDERTAKE TO BE ANSWERABLE FOR CONSEQUENCES."t 

October 31st, 1776. 
" Our army is decreasing fast. Several gentlemen^ -who have come to campivith- 
in a few days, have observed large numbers of militia r eturning home on the differ- 
ent roads."t 

J^'ovembcr 9lh, 1776. 
" I have little or no reason to expect that the militia now here, will remain 
a day longer than the time they first engaged for. I have recommended their 
.stay, and requested it in general orders. General Lincoln and the Massachu. 
setts commissioners are using their Interest with those from that state. But as 
fixr as I can judge, we cannot rely on their staying. 

"I have no assurances that more than a very fcsv of the troops composing 
the flying camp ivill remain after the time of their eni^ugement is out: so far from 
it, I am told, that some of general Ewing's brigade who stand engaged to the 
first of January, are now going away."§ 

December Isi, 1776. 
" The enemy are fast approaching — some of tliem are now in sight, .'ill the 
men of the Jersey fying camp under general Heard, being applied to, have refused 
to continue longer in service.''"^ 

Trenton, December Sd, 1776. 
" I look out earnestly for the reinforcements from Philadelphia. I am in 
hopes that if we can draw a good head of men together, it will give spirits to 
the militia of this .state, who have as yet afforded me little or 710 assistance ,• nor 
can I find they are likely to do much."% 

Trenton, December 5th, 1776. 
" Sorry I am to observe, liowever, that the frequent calls upon the militia of this 
state, the want of exeilion in the principal gentlemen of the country, or a fotal 
supineness and insensibility of danger till it is too late to prevent an evil that 
was not only foreseen, but foretold, have been the catises of our late disgraces- 

" Jfthe militia of this state had stepped forth in season, (and timely notice they 
had) 7i'e might have prevented the enemy^s crossing the Hackinsac, although with- 
out some previous notice of the time and place, it was impossible to have done 
this at the North river. 

" At Hackinsac our force was insufficient, because a part was at Elizabeth- 
town, Amboy, and Brunswick, guarthng a coast which I thought most exposed 
to danger ; and at Brunswick, because I was disappointed in my expectations 
of militia, and because on the day of the enemy's approach (and probably the 
occasion of it) the time of the Jersey and Maryland brigades' service expired ; 
NEITHER OF WHICH WOULD CONSENT TO STAY AN HOUR LONGER, 
" These, among ten thousand other Instances, mlglit be adtluced to shew the 
disadvantages of short enbstments, and the little dependence upon militia in 
times of real danger. 

" My first wish is, that congress may be convinced of the impropriety of rely- 
ing upon the militia, and the necessity of raising a larger standing army than 
they have voted. The saving in the articles of stores, provisions, and in a 
thousand other things, by having notliing to do with militia, unless in cases of 
extraordinary exigency, and such as could not be expected In the common 

• Idem, page 279. f Idem, page 282. i Idem, page 301. 

§ Idem, page 324. |1 Idem, page 328. *( Idem, page 330. 

O. B. 49 



374 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap 68 

coui'se of events, V'oukl amply supply a large army, which, well officered, 
would be daily improving-, instead of CON'llNUlNG A DESTRLCTIVE, EX- 
TENSIVE, AND DISOUDERLY MOIJ. 1 am clear in opinion, that if 4U,UOO 
men had been kept in constiuit pay sisico tlie first commencement of hostilities, 
and the militia had been excused doing' duty during that ])eriod, the continent, 
would have saved money. '\'V1ien 1 rcHcct on the losses we have sustained for 
want of g-ood troops, the certainty of this is placed beyond a doubt in my 
mind. In such case, tlie militia, who have been hai-assed and tired by repeated 
calls upon them (and farming- and manufactures in a manner suspended) wouId» 
upon any pressing emergency, have run vith alacrity to arms ; whereas the 
Cr\' now is, " tliey may as ivll be mined hi oju: ivaij as another," and tvith dijicid- 
Ui'theij are obtained. I mention these things, to shew, that, in my opinion, ifa7iy 
dependence is placed vpon militia another year, conj^ress will be deceived. AVIien 
danger is a little removed from them, tliey will not turn out at all. When it 
comes home to tliem, the well affected, instead of fl) ing to arms to defend 
themselves, are busily employed in removing their iamilies ynd ett'ects — whilst, 
the disaffected are concerting measures to make their submission, and spread 
terror and dismay all around, to induce others to follow the example. — Daily 
experience and abundant proofs warrant this information."* 

December 16th, 1776. 
" Tlint the militia are not to be depended on, or aid expected from them but in 
cases of the most pressing emergency, \%T\o\. \^o be doubted. The first of these 
propositions is unquestionable : and fatal experience has given her saiiction to 
the truth of the latter. Indeed their lethargy of late, and backwardness to turn 
out at this alarming crisis, seem to justify an apprehension that notliing can 
bring them from their homes. For want of their assistance, a large part of 
Jersey has been exposed to ravage and to plunder ; nor do I know that Penn- 
S) Ivaiiia would share a better fate, could general Howe effect a passage across 
the Delaware with a respectable force. I'hese considerations have induced me 
to wis] I that no reliance, except such as way arise from necessity, should ever be had 
071 tlicm (I'^ain ; and to make further mention to congress of the expediency of 
increasing- their army. 1 trust this measure will meet their earliest attention."| 

December 20th, 1776. 

" Short enlistments, and a mistaken dependence upon militia, have been the 
origin of all our misfortunes, and the great accumulation of our debt.":j: 

" We find, sir, that the enemy are tlaily gaining .strength from the disaffec- 
ted. This strength, Uke a snow-ball, by rolling, will increase, unless some 
means can be devised to check effectually the progress of the enemy's arms. 
JNIilitia may posmbly do it for a little while : but in a httle while also, the mili- 
tia of these stales ivhich have been frequently called upon, will, not turn 07it at all, or 
if they do, it will be with so much reluctance and sloth, as to amount to the 
same thing — instance New Jersey! witness Pennsylvania! — could anything 
but the river Delaware have saved Pliiladelphia ! Can any thing (the exigency 
of the case indeed may justify it) be more destructive to the recruiting service, 
THAN Gl\ lN(i TEN DOLLARS BOUNTY FOR SIX WEEKS' SERVICE OF 
THE MILITIA, WHO COME IN YOU CANNOT TELL HOW— GO YOU 
CANNOT TKI.L WHEKE— CONSUME YOUR PIU)MSIONS— EXHAUST 
YOUR SroUES, AND LEAN E YOU AT LAST AT A CRITICAL MOMENT. 

" These, sir, arc the men 1 am to depend upon, ten days hence ; this is the 
basis on wliich your cause must and will forever depend, till you get a large 
standing army sufficicntof itself to oppose the enemy."|l 

January Isi, 1776. 

" After much persuasion, and the exertions of their officers, half or a greater 
proportion of those from the eastward have consented to stay six weeks on a 
bounty of ten dollars. I feel the inconveniency of this advance, and I know the 
consequences that will result from it — but vvhat could be done .'' Pennsylvania 
liad allowed the same to her militia — the troops felt their importance, and 
Would have their price."^ 

* Idem, page 333. f Idem, page 346. f Idem, page 350. 

^ Ibid. II Idem, vol'. 11. page 3. 



CHAC. 68.] MILITIA DEFENCE. 3/,^' 

January Sth, 1777. 
" Their large picquets advanced towards Trenton — their great prepara- 
tions, and some intelhgence I liad received, added to their knowledge that tli'e 
first of January brought on a dissolution of the best part of the army — ga^■e me the 
strongest reasons to conchide that an attack upon us was meditating."* 

Jaivv.ary 7th, 1777. 
" Tlie severity of the season has made our troops, especially the militia, ex. 
tremely impatient, and has reduced tiie number very considerably. Every day 
Biore or less leave us."f 

January 19th, 1777. 

" The fuctuating state of an army composed chief y of militia, bids fair to reduce 
'■us to the situation in ivldch we were some little time ujo — that is, of scai'ce having 
an army at all — except reinforcements sjjeedily arrive. One of the battahons 
from the city of Philade-lphia, goes home to day, and the other two only remain 
a few days longer upon courtesy. The time for which a country brigade under 
general Mifflui came out is expired; and they stay from day to day by dint of 
solicitation — their numbers much reduced by desertions "§ 

" As militia must be our dependence till we can get tlie new army raised and 
properly arranged, I must entreat you to continue your endeavours with the 
states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, to tui-n out every man they 
possibly can, and for some time long-er than they generally have stipulated for. 
IF THEY AGREE FOR A MOI^'J'H, or any limited time, it should conmiencc 
from the time they actually join the army, and not from the time they leave 
their homes : otherwise the marching backwards and forwards consumes the 
term of engagement."! 

January 22d, 1777. 
" The necessity that we have been and are now \mdcr, of calling in and arm- 
ing the militia, scatters our armory all over the world in a manner. Their offi- 
cers are so irregular, that they generally suffer their men to carry home every 
thing that is put into their hands, which is forever lost to the pubHc."** 

February 20th, 1777. 
" At this time we are only about four thousand strong — a force you will sup- 
pose, unequal to a successful opposition, if they were not militia, and tar too 
small for the exigencies of our aiian-s. It is impossible to ol^tain exact returns, 
though they are daily called fur — owing to the frec^uent and almost constant 
departure of some of the corps."-f-[- 

February 28ih, 1777. 

"I was in hopes, that, by the time the militia who are now in service would 
be discharged, we should have had a considerable number of the new levies in 
the field : but, though I have reports from all quarters of the great success of 
the recruiting, 1 cannot get a man into the service. General Jackson's militia 
all go the 5th of March (many are gone already :) and general Lincoln's on the 
J5th. These two bodies form so considerable a part of our force, that, unless 
they are replaced, / s/utll be in a manner destitute." \ir 

JMornstotvn, March lAtJi, 1777. 

" What prospect there may be of immediate succours from other quarters, 
1 know not : hnt from the militia of tliis state I cannot expect to derive much more 
aid. Those who are well afl'ected have been so frequently called from their 
homes, that they are tired out, and almost profess an abhorrence of the ser- 

vice."§§ . , . ■ J- < 

" By the paymaster's report, the commissary here requires an immediate 
draft for a hundred thousand ; and the militia returning and about to leave 
camp a hundred and twenty thousand more. T/ie expense of culling on them so 
frequently is almost incredible. '''\*i 

* Idem, page 3. f Idem, page 6. § Idem, page 10 

1 Idem, page 11. ** Idem, page 24. ff Idem, page 36. 

n Idem, page 42. ^1 Idem, pa,^e 44, 



3r6 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 68. 

JMorristoivn, March 26th, 1777. 

" I urged governor Trumbull, in a letter of the 6th inst. to send two thou- 
sand of his militia to tlie same place. But sorry am I to observe, the militia have 
got tired."* 

" For want of proper coercive powers, from disaffection and other causes — 
the militia of this state [J\'cw Jersey] are not to be depended upon. — Then "''^ drawn 
out -with difficult II, and at a 7no.1t enormous expense, as tlieir accounts will shew. — 
THEY COME, YOU CAN SCARCE TELL HOW : THEY GO, YOU HARD- 
LY KNOW WHEN. IN THE SA]ME PREDICAMENT ARE THOSE OF 
PENNSYLVANIA."t 

" Small as our present force is, it will be reduced in a few days, by the going 
off of the Jersey three-months-men, the Cecil county militia, and the Virginia 
volunteers, all of whom claim discliarges next month.":!: 

./ipril 28th, 1777. 

** So early as the 6th of March I wrote to governor Trumbull, earnestly re- 
questing two tiiousand militia to be sent to general Mc Dougal, to be employed 
at Peekskill, and on the communication in West -Chester county, for six iveeks. 
With this requisition he most readily complied, so far as his orders were ne- 
cessary, and (I am certain) his influence M'ould extend. This 1 have repeated, 
and this supply he has exerted himself to furnish ; yet so ineffectual have his 
endeavours been, tliat not more than eight hundred had come out by general 
Mc Dougal's return on the 17th instant.' § 

J\latj I2th, 1777. 

" I would observe, if the militia are called out, it .should be for a fi.xed deter- 
minate time ; for though they will certainly return when that expires, 3'et that 
is more tolerable than for them to go off in parties every day as their whim 
and caprice suggest — which has always been the case when the time is not 
stated. I would also observe, if it is possible, they should be engaged to march 
out of their states, if ordered. If their service is located, they will move with 
great reluctance, if they move at aU."|| 

June 2d, 1777. 

" The shameful deficiency in all our ai-mies affords but too just grounds for 
disagreeable apprehensions : if the quotas assigned the different states are not 
immediately filled, we shall have every thing to fear. IFe shall never be able to 
resist their force, if the militia are to be relied on : nor do I know whether their 
aid, feeble and inefficient as it is, is much to be expected."^ 

September 7th, 1777. 

*' In respect to the militia requested, (of Jersey) his excellency is doubtful 
whether tliey can be obtained : for gov. Livingston, by a late letter, informs, 
that he had no expectation that more than three hundred of the thousand called 
for to garrison the posts of the higiilands, would march, notwitlistanding he had 
issued orders for that purpose ; and that three weeks would prol^ably elapse 
before that number went."** 

October 7th, 1777. 

*' Since the action, gen. Furmaii's brigade of Jersey militia has quitted us. The 
trten began to be uneasy at their situation, and desirous to return home : and 
as, by some intelligence from g-eneral Dickinson, there was reason to imagine 
there miglit be a call for their services in the Jerseys, it was thought expedient 
to gratify their desire."ff 

October V3th, 1777. 

" I will only observe, that the consequences of calling the militia into the field in 
the course of the -var, have been .10 severely and ruinozisly felt, that I trust our vieivt 
\i.ill never be turned to them but in cases of the greatest extremity." \\ 

JSTovember \st, 1777. 

" The militia from Virginia and Maryland are no longer to he counted 071 : all 
the former, except about two hundred, are already gone -, and a few days, I ex- 
pect, will produce the departure of the wiiole or c'iiief part of the latter, from 
the importunate applications which some of tliem have made."'§§ 

* Idem, page 46. f Idem, page 47. ± Idem, page 48. 

§ Idem, page 64. || Idem, page 75. % Idem, page 86. 

■*» Idem, page 1G3. -j-fldem, jjagc 180. i,\ Idem, p. 139. f;4 Idem, p. 197. 



GHAP. 69.] MILITIA DEFENCE. 377 

" Agreeable to my expectations, the ^JHrginia] viilitia are gone ; so that we 
have none now in aid of the continental troops but those of this state [Pennsyl- 
vania] mentioned in the retuni, and a few from Maryland."* 

" Th« militia of this state, supposing they should be tolerably vig-orous in. 
their exertions, will not be equal to the task : at least it will be difficult, if not 
impracticable, for them to do it. It is to be wished that siich as can be drawn out, 
may be engaged to sene THliEE MONTHS, or TWO AT LEAST, (if it can be 
efiected) after their arrival in camp ; and that a mode could be adopted to sup- 
ply their places with others at the expiration of their term, should tlie exigency 
of our affairs require it. A time for their continuance should be fixed, or they 
■ivill always be uneasy and pushing off",- and the longer circumstances will admit 
it to be, the better: for, after the period occurs, for which they came, it will be im- 
possible to detain them a moment.\ 

A perusal of the preceding extracts cannot fail to shake the 
faith of the most strenuous advocates for reliance on militia as 
*a general defence. Never was a point more ably or convincingly 
enforced. The immense importance of the subject — the mighty 
errors that prevail on it — and the ruinous consequences those er- 
rors may entail on us — will, 1 trust, fully justify such long de- 
tails. 

The following positions are clearly and irresistibly established : 

1. That the expense of militia is exorbitantly great. 

2. That they cannot be reduced to that strictness of discipline 
which is indispensibly necessary in all armies. 

3» That the period of service is so short, that it expires before 
they can acquire military skill. 

4. That whatever be the emergency, when the period of ser- 
vice has expired, the militia cannot be retained in service, with- 
out solicitation, utterly destructive of subordination. 

I am well aware, that there are illustrious exceptions to these 
observations. The militia have, in many instances, made a grand 
and glorious display of all the military virtues, in as high a de- 
gree as the bravest veterans. They have defeated equal and su- 
perior numbers of troops of the latter description : witness Platts- 
burg. New Orleans, &c. But these cases do not form the rule. 
They are the exceptions. And whatever instances may be pro- 
duced to invalidate my positions, can be outnumbered ten-fold. 
But I studiously draw a veil over the subject. To any man of 
reason and common sense, who reflects on the mode of selection, 
or who inspects a body of drafted militia, it must be obvious that 
the system is radically wrong. 

CHAPTER LXIX. 

Conscription or classification of the militia to fill up the armij^ the 
most impartial and efficacious mode. A measure of the American 
revolution. Plan borrowed by France. General Knox' s plan. 

I NOW undertake to establish my fifth position, " that the sys- 
tem of classification is the most impartial, the most efficacious, 

^ Idem, page 200. \ Idem, page 201. 



3J^g POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 6$. 

and the least oppressive mode of calling the militia into service, 
of any of the plans that have ever been devised." 

This mode of calling the militia into service, applies to, and 
bears equally upon, the whole body throughout the nation, with- 
out exception. This is a characteristic of impartiality and jus- 
tice, peculiar to this system ; and, had it no other advantage, 
would entitle it to a decided preference over every other. 

That it is most efficacious is equally clear. The service is 
entirely voluntary. No man is obliged to serve who does not 
find himself qualified, and who has any aversion whatever to the 
service, because there is not an individual in the country who 
cannot pay his proportion of the expense of hiring a substitute. 
It is needless to prove, as it must be self-evident to the most su- 
perficial observer, that there is an incalculable difference in point 
of efficiency between any number of men, who, being drafted by 
lot, are foixed to serve, whether they choose or not, and the same 
number of men who enter the service of their own free will. 

That this system is the least oppressive, is equally indisputable. 
According to the prevailing militia systems, every man dralted 
must either serve, or send a substitute at his own individual ex- 
pense. In all the states, heavy, and, to the poor, ruinous fines, 
are imposed on delinquents. Thirty-three dollars, which is the 
fine in Massachusetts, is an enormous sum to a poor person, 
which forces him into the sen' ice, however reluctant or unfit for 
duty. Whereas, according to the classification plan, all the per- 
sons liable to militarj- service throughout the state, or states, as 
the case may be, would contribute their respective quotas to- 
wards paying those who might offer their services, or who might 
be enlisted, if enlistment w ere necessary, which it rarely would 
be. This contribution would, in no case operate oppressively. 



My sixth proposition is " that the classification system pre. 
vailed during the revolution." 

All that is necessary to prove this, is to refer the reader to the 
following extracts from the laws of Pennsylvania and New-Jer- 
sey, which were similar in substance to those enacted in the 
other states. 

" And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the commission- 
ers of the city and several counties of this state respectively, -or any two of 
them, sliall direct the assessors of the several townsliips, wards, and districts, in 
the said city and counties respectiveh', to meet on or before the first day of 
February next, at the usual place of holding courts in. the said city and counties 
respectively, or at such other place or places where the said commissioners 
shall think most convenient ; and shall then and there, in conjunction with the 
said assessors, proceed to class the taxable persons and property within the said city 
and counties respectively, in such manner that the said propertv, together 
with a proportionable sum on all taxable single freemen, shall be divided into 
as many equal parts as the cjuotaof men, which the said city and counties res- 
pectively arc by this wt required to eijist, shall consist of, paying due regard 



CHAP. 69.] ^nLITIA DEFENCE. 379 

to the ease and convenience of the inhabitants, by including' those who reside 
near each other within the same class; and shall transmit to the several clashes, 
by persons by them to be appointed for that service, an order in '.miing, under 
the hand'i of the said commissio7iers, or any two of I hem, with a duplicate annexed, 
containing^ the numes of each a7id everif person composing the same, requiring each 
ef:he said classes TO ENLIST DURING THE WAR, ANDDELIVER TO THE 
PROPER OFFICER, ONE ABLE BODIED RECRUIT WITHIN FIFTEEN 
DAYS THEREAFTER."* 

" And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the commission- 
ers of the city and several counties of this state respectively, or any two of them, 
shall forthwith transmit to the several classes, classed by virtue of an act of the 
assembly of this state, entitled, " An act to complete the quota of the federal 
army assigned to this state," passed the twenty-third of December, one thou- 
sand seven hundred and eighty, by persons to be by them appointed for that 
service, an order in writing' under their hands, with a duplicate annexed, con- 
taining- the names of each and every person composing such class, recpdring 
each of the said classes to enlist for the term of eigliieen months as aforesaid, and 
DELIVER TO THE PROPER OFFICER, ONE ABLE BODIED RECRUIT 
WITHIN FIFTEEN DAYS. 

" And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, Tliat if any class or classes 
shall jieglect or refuse to enlist one able bodied recridt as aforesaid, within the time 
limited and directed, or to make return thereof to the assessors of the proper 
township, ward, or district, it shall and may be lawful for the said commission- 
ers, or township, ward, or district assessors, or any of them, and they are hereby 
authorized and required, to enhst for the tei-m aforesaid, and deliver to the pro- 
per officer, one able bodied recruit, in behalf of such class or classes, respec- 
tively ; and that it shall and may be lawful for the said commissioners, town- 
ship, ward, or district assessors, or either of them, v\here such neglect or refu- 
sal sliall happen, to proceed and le\y, in the manner directed by the laws now 
in force for levying and collecting other pubhc taxes, on the class or classes so 
neglecting or refusing, the sum agreed to be paid by the said commissioners, 
township, ward, or district assessors, or any of them, to the said recruit, and the 
reasonable expenses accruing thereupon, in proper proportions, according to 
the last pubhc tax levied thei-ein ; wliich they are hereby enjoined and dii-ect- 
ed to do within two days after such recruit shall be enlisted. 

" Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the commissioners of 
the several counties respectively, shall provide and keep a book, into which 
they shall enter in numerical order the several delinquent classes, as they shall 
be returned to them, and sh.aU enlist recruits for the said delinquent classes, 
accorchng to their respective numbers; and in like manner levy and collect 
fhe sums imposed on tliem respectively by this act."f 

"The several colonels or commanding officers of regiments and battalions of 
this state, shall cause the several companies of militia in their respective regi- 
ments or battalions, to be divided into eight parts, to be called classes, as near- 
ly equal as may be, and numbered, from one to eight, in numerical order : and 
the captains shall cause the names and surnames of the persons in the respec- 
tive companies, with the classes to which each belongeth, to be returned to the 
colonels or commanchng officers respectively, at such time as they shall appoint 
within six days after such division shall be made. 

"Sect. 5. That the captain general, or commander in chief for the time be- 
ing, in case of invasion or rebelhon within this state, or in case any part of the 
militia of this state shall be requested by congress, to assist tiie continental ar- 
my, in this or any of the adjoining states, may and is hereby empowered to caWinto 
actual service, any part of the militia, not exceeding one haf, by classes, as afore- 
said, as to him shall seem necessary ,• the first draft to be composed of number 
one of each company : and in case that shall not be sufficient for the emergen- 
cy, then number two shall be drawn ; and so on, by classes, from time to time, 
as occasion may require. "^ 

* Laws of Pennsylvania, 1780, chap. cxci. page 428. f Idem, page 5QK 

i. L.aws of New .Jersey, Marcli 15, and September 23, 1777. 



38» POLiriCAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 69. 

In the cases of persons refusing or declining to serve, or to 
furnish a substitute, the sixth section provides for the seizure 
and sale of their goods, for the purpose of hiring substitutes. 

By these laws, each class was obliged to furnish an able bo- 
died recruit — either one of its own number, or a person to be 
enlisted by it, and at the joint expense of the memloers — which 
is precisely the idea of the secretary of state and of Mr.. Giles. 

This is, I presume, conclusive. This relieves the system of 
classification from the odium attached to it as a discovery of the 
French republic, which has had more credit in this respect than it 
deserves. It took the plan at second hand from the sages and 
heroes of the American revolution. 

My next point is to prove, " that the classification or conscrip- 
tion system, most elaborately matured by General Knox, and 
stamped with the seal of General Washington's approbation, was 
more strict in its provisions than any of the recent plans." 

General Knox addressed his system to President Washington. 
It bears date, January 18, 1790 — and the letter which prefaces 
it, has the following introduction : 

*' Having' submitted to your consideration, a plan for tlie an-angement of the 
militia of the United States, which I had presented to the late congress of the 
United States, and you having apjiroved of the general principles thereof, w/iA 
rertain exceptions, 1 now respectfully lay the same before you, modified accord' 
ing to the alterations you were phased to snsi's^est." 

From this plan, approved, as we see, and submitted to con. 
gress by General Washington, I annex an extract, amply ade- 
quate to prove, that it bore the essential features which belong 
to the system of defence vvhich v.'as lumted down by the folly 
and madness of faction and sedition. In fact, it was much more 
strict and severe in its details, than either of those digested by 
the secretary at war or Mr. Giles — that enacted in New York — 
or the one rejected by the sapient legislature of Pennsylvania. 
None of the recent plans contemplated service beyond 45 years 
— whereas, Gen. Knox carried his views to a third class, to be 
coi^posed of citizens between 46 and 60 years. His plan likewise 
contemplated compulsory service of the mariners, who, as we 
shall see, were to be subject to conscription. 

Extracts from Getieral Knox's plan for the gerieral arrangement of the militia of the 
United States, submitted to congress by General Washhjgton, January 179G, and 
publis/ied by order of tlie house of representatives of the United States. 

" An energetic national militia is to be regarded as the capital security of a 
free republic, and not a standing army, forming a distinct class in the commu- 
^ty. 

" The period of life in which military service shall be required of the citi- 
zens of the United States, to commence at 18, and tenninate at tlie ag-e of 60 
years. 

" The men comprehended by this description, exclusive of such exceptions 
as the legislatures of the respective states may think proper to make, and all 



CHAP. 69.] MILITIA DEFENCE. 381 

actual mariners, shall be enrolled for different degrees of military duty, and di- 
vided into distinct classes. 

" The 1st class shall comprehend the youth of 18, 19, and 20 years of ag'e, to 
be denominated the advanced corps. 

" The 2d class shall include the men from 21 to 45 years of age, to be deno"- 
lainated the main corps. 

" The 3d class shall comprehend inclusively the men from 46 to 60 years of 
age, to be denominated the reserved corps. 

" All the mihtia of the United States shall assume the form of the legion, 
which shall be the permanent establishment thereof. 

*' A legion shall consist of 153 commissioned officers, and 2880 non-commis- 
sioned officers and privates. 

" The companies of all the corps shall be divided into sections of 12 each. It 
is proposed by this division, to establish one uniform vital principle, which in 
peace and war shall pervade the militia of the United States. 

" All requisitions for men to form an army, either for state or federal pur- 
poses, shall be furnished by the advanced and main corps, by means of the sec- 
tions. 

"The executive government, or commander in chief of the militia of 
each stiite, will assess the numbers required on the respective legions of these 
corps. 

" The legionary general will direct the proportions to be furnished by each 
part of his command. Should the demand be so great as to require ojie 7nanfrom 
each section, then the operations hereby directed shall be performed by single sections. 
But if a less number should be required, tliey will be furnished by an associa- 
tion of sections or companies, according to the demand. In any case, it is pro- 
bable that mutual convenience may dictate an agreement with an individual to 
perform the service required. If, however, no agreement can be made, one 
must be detached by an indiscriminate draft, and the others sliall pay liim a sum 
of money equal to the averaged sum which sliall be paid in the same legion for 
the voluntary performance of the services required. 

" In case any section or company of a legion, after having furnished its own 
quota, should have more men willing to engage for the service required, other 
companies of tlie same legion shall have permission to engage them — the same 
rule to extend to the different legions of the state. 

" The legionary general must be responsible to the commander in chief of 
the military of the state, that the men furnished are according to the descrip- 
tion, and that they are equipped in the manner, and marched to the rendez- 
vous, conformably to the orders for that purpose. 

" The men ivho may be drafted, shall not serve more than three years at one time. 

" ^11 the actual mariners or seamen in the respective states shall be registered iji 
districts, and divided into txvo classes — the first class to consist of all the seavien from 
the age of 16 to 30 years inclusively — the second class to consist of all those from the 
age of 21 to 45 inclusively. 

" The first class shall be responsible to serve three years on board of some public 
armed vessel or ship of 7var, as a commissioned officer, or private marine, for which 
they shall receive the customary wages and emoluments. 

" The 2d class shall be responsible for a portion of sei-vice i/i those cases to tuhick 
the first class shall be uneqiial — the number required shall be furnished by sec- 
tions, in the same manner as is prescribed for the sections of the militia." 

" The advanced legions, in all cases of invasion or rebellion, shall, on requi- 
sition of the lawful authority, be obliged to march to any place ivithin the United 
States, to remain embodied for such time as shall be directed, not to exceed one year, 
to be compntedfrom the time of marching from the regimental parade ,- diu-ing the 
period of their being on such service, to be placed on the continental esta- 
blishment of pay, subsistence, clothing, forage, tents, camp equipage, and all 
such other allowances as are made to federal troops, at the same time and un- 
der the same circumstances. 

O. B. 50 



382 POLITICAL OLIVE BRAlSiCH. [cha?. 69. 

" The common mode of recruiting is attended with too great destruction of mo- 
rals to be tolerated ; and is too jincertain to be the principal resource of a wise 
nation in time of danger. The public tUitli is frequently wounded by unwor- 
thy individuals who hold out delusive promises which can never be realized. 
By such means an unprincipled banditti are often colle<*fed, for the purpose of 
defending' every thing that should be dear to freemen. The consequences are 
natural. Such men either desert in time of danger, or are ever ready, on the 
slightest disgust, to turn their arms against their country. By the establishment 
of the sections, an ample and permanent source is opened, \s lie nee the state 
in everv exigency may be supplied with men whose all depends on the pros- 
perity of tlieir country." 

I request the reader will duly weigh these extracts, and will 
examine the admirable plan, at large, which ought to immortal- 
ize the memory of General Knox. It is to be hoped, that the 
day is not far distant, when the adoption of such a system will 
place a rampart around our firesides and our families, which 
might bid defiance to all the hosts of Europe combined, were they 
to attempt our subjugation. This would far excel the famous 
Chinese wall, built to guard against the incursions of the Tar- 
tars — or the Pictish wall of the Roman general Agricola. 

I cannot pass over one incident connected with this affair, 
which shews, in a striking point of light, the delusion which the 
spirit of faction excites. After the noble, efficient systems of 
the secretary at war and Mr. Giles fell sacrifices to the convul- 
sive struggles in congress for power — and after, of course, the 
countrv was thus left in a manner defenceless and exposed to 
the inroads of a powerful enemy, the house of delegates of the 
state of Maryland published an address to Rufus King, Esq. 
lavishing compliments on him for his services in defeating those 
plans of defence, and thereby subjecting their houses, their 
wives, their children, their parents, and themselves, to the mer- 
cy of Cockburns and Gordons ! ! ! 

" Resolved, that the thanks of this house, in behalf of the freemen of Mary- 
land, be, and they are hereby presented to the honourable llufus King, of the 
senate of t!ic United States, for the seasonable and successful interposition of 
his experienced wisdom and influence of character, in avertimr the maditated 
operation of a measure, hosti/e to the iminunitii's of conxtitutioiial freedom, offensive to 
the pure crenius uf ind'ljendence, und fraiijrftt ~vith coimequenre.i habftd and appall- 
ing to the !<iicial order, trnnqnillitu, and well being nf this united refiHhlic. 

" And the house would accompany the respcctfid tribute, which is thus spe- 
cially offered, with a general expression of the gi-ateful sense which it also en- 
tei-talns of the distinguislicd merit of the otlitr members of the minority, who 
so stedfastly and ably co-operated, at evert/ revival of the struggle, in both branch- 
es of con stress, in- comb'.iting against the insidious intrnduction of an nnthoritative 
conscriJ)t pstaMishnient, more specious in the form of its approach, but not essen- 
tially different from that, whose intense oppressioPi lias just vanished from the 
continent of Europe, with its guilty author, the blood-stained usurper of 
France." 

Mr. Ivjng's Reply. 

Washington, Jan. 8, 1815. 

Sir — I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 6th inst. transmit- 
ting to me a copy of the resolution of the house of delegates of the state of Ma. 
ryland, of the same d;ite. Permit me, sir, through you, to express to the house 
of delegates the high sense I entertain of the honour of their approbation of 



CHAP. 70.] GERRYMANDERISM. 583 

my conduct as a member of the senate, in opposing the bill which required of 
the raiiitia of the several states, to furnish recruits for the reg'ular army, under 
the penalty of being themselves drafted to serve in the prosecution of the 
war. 

At the time that I offer my acknowledgments to the house of delegates, I am 
bound in justice to others, to disclaim any particular merit on this occasion ; 
the failure of the bill must be ascribed to the strenuous and able opposition 
which it received in both houses of congress, sustained, as the opposition has 
been, by the voice of the country. 

I ask for indulg'ence to add, that while I have resisted the progress of a biU, 
pi'ofessing to have for its object to provide for the common defence, by means, 
which the constitution docs not in my judgment authorise ; 1 have thought my- 
self obliged, by a faithful regaixl for the general safety, at a period of great 
public diffictdt)', without reference to the past, to vote for siipjjlies of men and 
money, and for other important measures within the pale of the constitution, 
which are thought neccssaiy to revive the public credit ; to protect tlie several 
states against invasion, and to defend and save from dismemberment the terri- 
tory and sovereignty of the nation ; objects to the attainment of which no effort 
that can be made by freemen will be deemed too great. 

With distinguished consideration,! have the hononr to he, sir, vour obedient 
servant, KUFUS KING, 

Hon. Henry H. Chapman, speaker of the house of delegates of JMari'lund. 

CHAPTER LXX. 

Gerrymanderism, Derivation of this queer name. J^ol'itical Leger- 
demain. A grand discovery horv to enable a minority to rule 
the majority. Joint and concurrent votes. General ticket. 

It is a painful truth, discreditable to human nature, that poli- 
ticians, even those who in private life are honest and upright, 
display considerable laxity of principle, in cases wherein the in- 
terest, or the power, or the influence of the party to which they 
are attached, is in question. From this strong and pointed cen- 
sure, few parties, in any age or country, have been free. It is 
not therefore wonderful, that both federalists and democrats 
have been liable to it. Their history affords many decisive il- 
lustrations of the soundness of the maxim. 

The subject to which I have devoted this chapter, is an un- 
answerable corroboration of the accusation. It involves a gross 
violation of justice and political morality — and, virtually dis- 
franchising one portion of the community, imparts to the other 
an undue share of political influence. This is assuredly a high 
crime and misdemeanor, deserving of the most pointed reproba- 
tion of good men of all parties. 

It has reference to the representation in the senates of the in- 
dividual states. 

As this book may be perused by persons unacquainted with 
our systems of government, it may not be improper to state, that 
our legislatures are generally composed of a senate and house of 
representatives, or delegates. To the latter branch each county 
in the state to which it belongs, sends one or more representa- 
tives. In fourteen of the states, the representation is in proportion 



384 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 70. 

to the population. But in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and 
North Carolina, it is regulated merely by counties, no regard 
being paid to the population. 

The senates, in almost every case, are composed of members 
chosen by districts, formed of two or more counties, which dis- 
tricts elect a number of senators in proportion to their popula- 
tion, except in the four states specified. 

The above arrangement and the adjustment of these districts 
open a door to a considerable degree of intrigue and manage- 
ment, and invite to chicane and fraud — in one word, to the po- 
litical sin, which I have styled Gerrymanderisyn. Of this hei- 
nous political sin, both federalists and democrats, as I have said, 
have been guilty. 

The injustice lies in so arranging the counties, in the forma- 
tion of districts, as to produce the effect stated in the second 
paragraph. 

To accomplish this sinister purpose, counties are frequently 
united, to form a senatorial district, which have no territorial 
connection, being separated from each other by an intervening 
county, sometimes by two or three. 

The state of Massachusetts was depicted, four or five years 
since, as a sort of monstrous figure, with the counties forming 
the senatorial districts, displayed on this unprincipled plan. It 
was called a Gerrymander * in allusion to the name of the late 
vice-president of the United States, then governor of that state. 
Hence I derive the term Gerrymanderism. To those who gave 
the title Gerrymander^ it might not unaptly be said — ^" men of 
glass^ throw no stones^ 

To enable the reader to form a correct idea of the extreme 
and flagrant injustice that may be perpetrated in this mode, 
without any apparent violation of law or constitution, I will ex- 
plain how a minority may be enabled to rule a large majority^ 
so far as respects the senatorial branch of the legislature. 

I suppose a case. Six counties, each containing 1,000 voters, 
are to be formed into three senatorial districts, each to elect four 
senators. These districts may be so contrived, that the party 
predominant in the legislature at the time of arranging them, 
whether federal or democratic, with 2,320 voters, shall have 
eight senators ; and the other, with 3,680, shall have only four, 
and, nevertheless, every elector of the whole 6,000 shall exercise 
the right of suffrage. 

* The federalists, who have always been very adroit in politicul christenings, 
endeavoured, by the use of this name, to cast the odium exclusively on their 
antagonists, as if they themselves were immaculate on this subject. The idea 
is unsound. 

The Boston folks are said to be full of notiom. They have been pretty no- 
tional on tlie subject of the English language, which they have amplified, I will 
not say improved, with many such queer words. 



^HAP. 70.] GERRYMANDERISM, 385 

You may well be amazed, reader. But it is so^ Such is the 
political juggle and hocus pocus, that our public men, of both 
parties, too frequently perform, to acquire or to perpetuate an 
undue share of power. 

I now state the number of voters in each of the six counties, 
to which I give the following names : 



Counties. 


Federalist^. 


Democrats-. 


Jackson, 


120 


880 


Erie, 


280 


720 


Chaniplain, 


340 


660 


M'Donougb, 


680 


320 


Perry, 


150 


850 


Porter, 


750 


250 



2320 3680 

I might have styled the parties big-endians, or little-endimi?. 
The name is of no importance. 

Now for a display of political legerdemain — in order to en- 
able the minority to rule the majority : 

DISTRICT NO. 1. DISTRICT NO. 2. DISTRICT NO. 3. 

Formed of Erie and Porter Formed of Champlai^i and Formed of Jackson and 

counties. JM'Donough counties. Perry counties. 

Fed. Dem. Fed. Dem. Fed. Defti, 

Erie, 280 720 Champlain, 340 660 Jackson, 120 880 

Porter, 750 250 M'Donough, 680 320 Perry, 150 850 



1030 970 1020 980 270 1730 

Thus, as I have stated, a minority of 2,320 inhabitants, may 
have twice as many senators as the majority of 3,680 — their can- 
didates having been successful in the two first districts. In the 
first district, the democratic minority is 970 — in the second 980, 
which are wholly lost. And the majority in the third district 
is 1730, whereas 1010 would have equally secured the election. 
It therefore follows, that by this arrangement, there are 970, 
980, and 620 democratic votes absolutely thrown away. 

This is an extreme case. Injustice carried to such a flagrant 
extent, does not often occur. The instances, however, of this 
kind, but of an inferior degree, are by no means unfrequent. It 
thence happens, that a senate is sometimes democratic, while the 
house of representatives, in the same state, is decidedly federal; 
and vice versa. 

This political arithmetic, like every other science, has its ar- 
cana. The grand and unerring rule is, to make your own minor- 
ities and majorities as small, and those of your adversaries as 
large, as possible. In other words, to throw away as few votes 
on your own side, and as many on the other, as in your power. 

This fraudulent practice admits but of one effectual remedy. Se- 
natorial districts ought to be foi'med of counties and parts of coun- 
ties, quite contiguous to each other, so that all those who vote for 
^ach senator shall be residents of the same neighbourhood. 



386 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH, [chap. 70. 

There is another pohtical fraud, of which both parties have 
been occasionally guilty, and which deserves the severest repro- 
bation. It has respect to the choice of members of the house of 
representatives of the United States, and electors of the president 
and vice-president. 

For these very important operations, there is not, although 
reason and justice loudly call for it, a fixed and permanent rule. 
The legislatures of the individual states have the power of de- 
ciding upon the mode, and, as it respects the representatives, 
upon the time of the election. Hence, flagrant injustice is fre- 
quently perpetrated. 

These elections are sometimes by districts, in the same man- 
ner as the state senators are elected ; at others, by a general 
ticket. 

The last mode is extremely unfair and incorrect. It deprives 
the minority altogether of any share in the representation. 

A short statement will fully evince the extreme injustice and 
inequality of a general ticket for members of congress, or elec- 
tors of president. 

Massachusetts is entitled to members of the house of ") gQ 
representatives of the United States, J 

New-York, - - - - - - 27 

Pennsylvania, - - - - _ 23 

Virginia, - - - - - - 23 

93 
Suppose either of the parties, federal or democratic, to have 
a veiy small majority in each of these states, say one thousand 
votes — suppose, also, the whole number of votes in the four 
states to be 300,000. The result will be, that if the elections be 
by general tickets, 152,000 voters may secure the entire repre- 
sentation of these four states, which is more than half of the 
whole number of members of congress — and that the remaining 
14'^,000 will have no representative. This idea might be pursued 
to a great extent. But I leave it to the pen or pencil of the reader. 

Instances have frequently occurred in the different states, of 
the mode of election being changed on the spur of the occasion, 
to suit the momentary purposes of party or faction. The most 
recent case that has occurred, was in the state of New- Jersey in 
1812. From the organization of the general government till the 
year 1800, the members of the house of representatives of the 
United States, had been elected in that state by districts. In 
that year, the federalists had a majority in the legislature, and 
calculated on a majority of votes in the whole state. In order, 
therefore, to engross the whole representation to themselves, on 
the eve of the election, they repealed the district law, and passed 
an act for electing the representatives in congress by a general 



CHAP. 70.] REPRESENT ATRE SYSTEM. 387 

ticket. Contrary to their calculations, the democratic ticket pre- 
vailed then, and in every subsequent election till the year 1812. 
In the latter year, the federalists having a temporary ascendency 
in the state legislature, one of their first acts was to repeal the 
general election law, which they had themselves enacted, and 
to restore the election by districts, which they had formerly re- 
pealed. And by Gerrymandering the state to suit their views 
they gained four out of the six representatives ; whereas by a 
general ticket they would not have obtained one. 

Another reprehensible procedure, emanating from the same 
laxity of principle, respects elections by our legislative bodies. 
When the politics of the two branches of a legislature are differ*- 
ent, there is frequently a struggle about the mode of election — 
whether by a joint, or a concurrent vote. The senate being the 
less numerous body, are, in the case of a joint vote, merged and 
lost in the greater number of the house of representatives. They 
are, therefore, strenuous supporters of a concurrent vote, in 
which their influence is equal to that of the co-ordinate branch. 
The other house, confiding in its numbers, is equally zealous 
for a joint vote, wherein it will have the ascendency. The state 
of Pennsylvania was, many years since, for a considerable time 
unrepresented in the senate of the United States, in consequence 
of a struggle of this kind — neither party being disposed to con- 
cede the point to the other. 

It is a grand desideratum to have all these points clearly and 
explicitly defined by the constitutions. There should be as little 
temptation to fraud, and as little safety in the perpetration of it, 
as possible. 

CHAPTER LXXI. 

State of representation in Massachusetts. Wretched system of 
representation in Marijland and Virginia. Rotten boroughs. 

It may not be improper here to introduce an analogous sub- 
ject, respecting the representation in the state of Massachusetts. 
The men who framed the constitution of that state, were pro- 
bably as highly enlightened and respectable, as any equal num- 
ber of men ever convened for such a purpose. But they, never- 
theless, committed some very egregious errors, which are really 
astonishing. The most conspicuous was, neglecting precisely to 
fix the number of representatives in the more numerous branch 
of. the legislature. The consequence is, that the numbers have 
fluctuated in the n\ost extraordinary and incredible degree. 
There have been as many as 700 — at other times not half the 
number. And the town of Boston has had a sinall army of 
representatives, no less than forty-four — being a greater num- 
ber than the whole senate and house of representatives of the 



3^88 rOLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 70. 

state of Delaware — than the entire senate of South Carolina, or 
Pennsylvania — and than the assembly of New Jersey. 

This defect in their representative system arises from a flaw 
in the constitution, respecting the choice of members of the 
house of representatives — instead of, the imperative, *' they shall 
elect^'' the phrase is, " they may elect.'*'' 

*' Every corporate town contaiiiing- one himdred and fifty rateable polls, may 
elect one representative : — every corporate town containing- three hundred and 
seventy-five rateable polls, may elect two representatives : — every corporate 
town containing six hundred rateable polls, may elect three representatives : — 
and proceeding in that manner, making two hundred and twenty-five i-ateable 
polls the mean encreasing number of every additional representative." 

Every town has heretofore paid (and I believe still pays) its 
own representatives : and, from a sordid, miserable, huckstering, 
and contemptible spirit of economy, some of them send no re- 
presentatives — others, regardless of expense, send full as many 
as they are entitled to — and some, it is presumable, when party 
spirit runs high, send more than their quota. 

It is difficult to conceive how Boston can be entitled to 44 re- 
presentatives. The cit}^ of Philadelphia, with a population of 
57,000 inhabitants, has never polled more than 6,000 votes. 
The right of suffrage here is as latitudinarian as any where ; 
much more than in Massachusetts, where a citizen must be 
worth 60/. to qualify him to vote. According to the Massa- 
chusetts principle, we should be entitled only to about 27. 
Boston has but 33,000 inhabitants, and yet has had 44 represen- 
tatives ! ! 



Representation, which is the key-stone of free government, is 
arranged very incorrectly in several other states. The Gerry- 
■mander principle, is, alas ! too prevalent. The lust of power 
induces parties to hold tenaciously whatever political advanta- 
ges they possess, however unjust their operation. 

This stibject, alone, would require a volume. But I shall 
merely glance at a few enormous traits of injustice. 

Each of the counties of Maryland has four representatives in 
the house of delegates. There is, nevertheless, a most enor- 
mous difference in the population. 

Inhabitants. Representatives. 
Frederick county - ... 34,477 4 

JVnne Arundel - - - 26,668 4 

Bahimorcj - ... - 29.255 4 

Harford - - - - - 21,258 4 

Baltimore city , , - - 46,555 2 

158.213 18 



The above four counties, and the city of Baltimore, have only 
18 representatives. 



CHAF. 72.] 



STATISTICS, 



389 



Counties. 
Allegany 
Calvert 
Caroline 
Kent 
St. Mary's 



Inhabitants. 

6,909 

8,005 

9,453 

11,450 

12,794 



48,611 



Representatiti€s. 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 

20 



"These five counties have twenty representatives. Thus 
48,611 persons in one part of the state, have 10 per cent, more 
influence than 158,213 in another. If this be not Gerrymande- 
rism^ pray what is ? 

Kent county, in Delaware, has but 20,495 inhabitants — Sus- 
sex, 27,750. But each elects an equal number of representatives 
and senators. 

The same wretched and unjust system prevails in Virginia. 
Each county has two representatives. And there is, in many 
cases, a more enormous disproportion, in the population, and more 
flagrant injustice, than in Maryland. 

I annex a view of the population of sixteen counties in Vir- 
ginia, which have thirty-tAvo representatives in the house of del- 
egates. Eight of them, it will be seen, have 163,000 inhabi- 
tants, and the other eight only 27,000. Thus six men in the 
first list have no more influence in the making of laws, than one 
in the second ! 



■ Counties. Inhabitants. 


Represent. 


Cotinties. 


Inliabitants. 


Represent. 


Caroline 17,544 


2 


Warwick 


1,835 


2 


Buckingham 20,059 


2 


Fluvanna 


4,775 


2 


Albemarle 18,268 


2 


Middlesex 


4,414 


2 


Fauquier 22,689 


2 


Patrick 


4,695 


2 


Frederic 22,574 


2 


Mason 


1,991 


2 


Halifax 22,131 


2 


Tazewell 


3,007 


2 


Loudon 21,338 


2 


Brooke 


2,717 


o 


Mecklenberg 18,453 


2 
16 

more, in a 


Giles 

Still more 


3,745 


a 


163,056 


27,179 


16 


Same subject once 


Striking point 


of view. 


Counties. Inhabitants. 


Hepresent. 


Counties. 


Inhabitants. 


Represent'. 


Fauquier 22,689 


2 


Warwick 


1,835 


2 


Frederic 22,574 


2 
4 


Mason 


1,991 
3,826 


2 


45,263 


4 



Thus, eleven inhabitants of the former counties have not as 
much weight as one in the latter. 

Let no Virginian, after this statement, dare to censure the rot- 
ten boroughs of England. This state of representation is in the 
true spirit of that borough system. 

When we take fully into consideration the youth of this coun- 
try — the era at which the American constitutions were formed 
O. B. SI 



390 POLtTICAL OLfVE BRANCH. [chap. 72. 

— the general diffusion of political knowledge— the illumination 
of, and advantages possessed hy, the conventions that framed 
these constitutions ; and when we likewise reflect on the bo- 
rough system in England, and the natural tendency of all politi- 
cal institutions towards corruption, vniless frequent recurrence is 
had to first principles — palliations may more readily be found 
for that system in England, wretched and corrupt as it is, than 
for the county representation in Virginia and Maryland. 

The knavish tricks, which I have glanced at in this chapter, 
cannot be too highly despised, whether perpetrated by federalists 
or democrats. It is to be regi-etted, that thei'e is no court of 
justice to punish such political frauds, how heinous soever they 
may be. A man shall be sentenced for years to saw marble, 
for a depredation on the property of his neighbour, to the 
amount of a few dollars. But a large portion of a state may be 
virtually disfranchised by its representatives, without a possibil- 
ity of redress, and the culprits wholly escape punishment. 

To the calm and dispassionate consideration of the public, 
these views are respectfully submitted. That enormous evils 
exist, and loudly call for a remedy, cannot be doubted or denied. 
That those whose political influence rests on the basis of these 
evils, will submit to have them redressed, I fondly hope and 
pray — but, reasoning from the general course of human affairs, 
I am not very sanguine on the subject. For in the whole histo- 
ry of mankind, from the earliest records to the present time, 
there are hardly any instances to be found, of that glorious spirit 
of justice and self-denial, which induces nations or public bodies 
voluntarily to renounce any important advantages they pos- 
sess, however unjustly they may have been acquired — or 
however oppressive or iniquitous their operation. And he must 
be a fool or a madman, who, after reflecting on the pages of 
the " abstract and brief chronicle''' of our times, is very sanguine 
in the expectation that we shall prove ourselves much wiser or 
better than our ancestors — or that we shall avail ourselves much 
more of the light of history, to guide our paths, than the nations 
that have preceded us. Every stage of our progress, fraught, 
with folly and error, forbids the flattering expectation. 

CHAPTER LXXIL 

A rvonderful contrast. '* Let every sold be subject to the higher 
powers.''' — Rev. Dr. Morse — Rev. Dr. Parish — Rev. Dr. Os- 
good. Invocation to war. Gover7ior Gilman. 

Of the seditious and treasonable opposition to the go\'ern- 
ment, which for years past has prevailed in the eastern states, I 
have given copious specimens in chapters 54 and 56. 



CHAP. 72.] WONDERFUL CONTRAST. S9t 

It is difficult to decide which is the greater, the disgrace of 
the government in its pusillanimous and feeble submission to 
such lawless outrages, or that of the parties who perpetratecl 
them. Never before did such treasonable conduct experience 
the same impunity. And never again, I hope, will the same 
experiment be made of the imbecility of the government of the 
United States, be it in whose hands it may, whether democratic 
or federal. The result, it is true, has not been unfavourable. 
The tornado has spent its fuiy without destroying the majestic 
edifice of our government, which it threatened with perdition — 
and without provoking civil war. But the guilt of those who 
raised the storm, and the guilt of those who shamefully neglect- 
ed the necessary measures to ward off its terrific consequences, 
is precisely the same as if it had produced those awful results, 
from which the finger of Heaven alone saved this favoured na- 
tion. 

It may not be amiss to contrast with those horrible violations 
of law and constitution, the maxims and conduct of the federal 
leaders and their advocates when they held the reins of govern- 
ment. It will afford an interesting example of the facility with 
v/hich our views and our sentiments can be moulded and chang- 
ed to suit the purposes of the moment. 

And, to commence, I beg the reader will carefully peruse the, 
sedition law, passed Anno 1798, of which he will find the prin- 
cipal features in chapter 2. By this law, 

" If any persons shall combine oi- conspire tog-ether, to oppose any measure or 
measures of the government of the United States which shall be directed by the 
proper authority, they shall be subject to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars 
— and to be imprisoned not less than six months, nor more than five years.'" 

Reader, ponder well on these few lines. And reflect what 
would have become of the Chittendens, the Otises, the Picker- 
ings, the Blakes, the Websters, the Kings, the Russels, cum mul- 
tis al'iis^ had this law been carried into operation against them. 
There is not a man of them that would not have taken his abode 
in a prison, and paid a fine of perhaps five thousand dollars. 
There are some, I mean the printers of newspapers, who, had 
this law remained in existence, would have incurred its penal- 
ties a thousand times. 

In the month of October, 1808, a rumour prevailed, that Bo, 
naparte had declared war against this country. The federal pa- 
pers then threatened " the partizans of France''' with the ven- 
geance of the law — aye, ancl with vengeance beyond the law, if 
they dared to make the least opposition to the government, or 
display their regards for France, even in conversation. They 
were ordered " to loxver their tone''^ — or threatened with being 
" sent to their master. '>'' Of the style of these denunciations and 
threats, I annex a fair and full specimen, from the Gazette of the 
United States, October 22, 1808. 



592 POLITICAL OLIA'E BRANCH. [chap, 72 

« If the news this day received, of an actual declaration of war by Bonaparte, 
should prove true, the traitoroim emissaries of JVapoleon, who every where abound 
in the countrv, iviU find it necessary to loiver their tone. What can be tolerated in 
time of peace, THE PEOPLE WILL NOT BEAR IN TIME OF WAR. Tlie 
advocates of French despotism ymist either go to their wasters, or be more cautious 
in their language. It is true, that France has, to all intents and purposes, been 
making war upon us these twelve months. But as it has not been declared in 
form, and as our government have not thought proper to make any opposition, 
the papers of Napoleon, and his agents of every description, have hitlierto 
been suffered to carry on their intrigues, and to promote the cause of their 
master by every means which they chose to adopt. WE MUST NOW COR- 
RECT THE PROCEDURE." 

One other newspaper specimen of an earlier period, from the 
Baltimore Federal Gazette, July 5, 1798 — 

" I believe that some of the old French leaven still remains among us ; and 
that some vile and degenerate wretches, whom I call French partisans, or Ame- 
rican jacobins, \v\\\ not join any military associations, or patriotic loan, but discou- 
rage them as far as they dare ; these men should be carefully watched : and if 
they should artfully attempt to form any military corps, (and they will be known 
by the character of their officers and privates) notice should be given to our 
federal and state GOVEa]srMENTS, to prevent commissions issuing for ivant of infor- 
mation.^^ 

These specimens are, I presitme, enough of this description. 

I now proceed to detail the sentiments of three clergymen, 
who have rendered themselves conspicuous by their rancorous 
hostility to the administrations of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madi- 
son — the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, the Rev. David Osgood, and 
the Rev. Elijah Parish. I have no recent sermon of Dr. Morse's : 
but of the anti -christian spirit that predominates in the late ser- 
mons of the two latter gentlemen, I have given abundant proofs 
and specimens in the 56th chapter of this work. Let us examine 
what were their sentiments when the administration was in the 
hands of their own party. Never wms there a stronger contrast. 

And first, of Dr. Parish. This reverend gentleman delivered 
an address, on the 4th of July, 1799, which breathes in every 
page the most devoted submission to rulers, the most decided 
support of their measures, and the most virulent fulminations 
against the opposers of the government. Its spirit may be rea- 
dily conceived from the following short specimen : — 

«It is a time of day that requires cautious jealousy ; not jealousy of your 
magistrates, fur you have given them yonv confidence ,- but of those wlio slander their 
administration. To be jealous of your i-ulers would be, as if a person were to 
choose a bride from all the beauties of tlie world, and then instantly without 
cause, be jealous of her alone. Your fmblic characters are your own choice. 
Watcli those ungrateful souls who murmur about taxation and oppression, tlie 
burdens of govei-'nment and religion. They have fellowship with our enemies— 
they are trailm-s to God and Christianity. Be jealous of those who declami 
against alien and sedition laws. They probably have a hankering for lying and 
rebellion themselves. In a word, let honest men, let the friends of Cod and hu- 
manity, spurn from their embrace every man who t.-ifles with his father's reli- 
gion, the hope and salvation of the world ; who alarms weak minds with the de- 
signs of government ,- who discourages tlie Tnost formidable means of defence. 
It was the sword which gave courage to declare independence. Such is tlie present 



CHAP. 72.] WONDEEFUL CONTRAST. 393 

state of human nature, that NOTHING BUT THE SWORD CAN DEFEND 
OUR INDEPENDENCE. Never, never while there is a crimson drop in your 
hearts will vou suffer an armed foe to breatiie your native air. — CURSED BE 
HE THAT KEEPETH RACK HIS SWORD FROM BLOOD. LET HIM 
THAT HATH NONE, SELL HIS COAT AND BUY ONE. THE CONTEST 
IS DESIRABLE." 

How shall we account for this ravenous thirst for blood — this 
invocation of the sword — this elaborate defence of the constitu- 
ted authorities — how reconcile it with the pacific spirit, the de- 
nunciations of war, and the malignant abuse of the administra- 
tion, which are to be found in chapter 56 ? There is only one 
conceivable clue — and that is, when blood was called for, it was 
French blood — French blood — French blood that was to flow. 

Next I exhibit the Rev. Dr. Osgood. A convention of con- 
gregational ministers agreed to an address to president Adams, 
in May, 1798, which was signed by that gentleman among 
Others. I annex a short extract : 

" We remember Christ's command to forgive and love our most injurious 
enemies. But neither the law of Christianity or of reason requires us to pros- 
trate our national independence, freedom, propertij, and honour, at the feet of proud, 
insatiable oppressors. Such a prostration would be treason against that Being 
who gave us our inestimable privileges, civil and religious, as a sacred deposit, 
to be defended and transmitted to posterity. It would be criminal unfaithfulness 
and treachery to oui' country, our children, and the wliole human race. 

" The intimate connexion between our civil and Christian blessings is alone 
sufficient to justify the decided part whicli the clergy of Jlmerica have uniformly 
taken IN SUPPORTING THE CONSTITUTED AUTHORITIES am} political 
interests of their coiintry," 

Next follows the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, whose eloquence and 
sound reasoning " in olden timc^^'' cannot fail to excite the ap- 
probation of the reader. The following extracts are from a ser- 
mon delivered by this reverend gentleman, May 9, 1798. 

" Our newspapers teem with slander and personal invective and abuse. Our 
rulers, grown grey, many of them, in the service of their country ; who, in the 
various dignified and responsible offices they have filled, have discharged their 
duties with great ability and incon-uptible integi'ity, are yet stigmatized conti- 
nually, as unfriendly to the rights and liberties of the people, and to the true 
interests of their country. Our government itself, the most perfect, the best 
administered, the least burdensome, and most happifying to the people, of any 
on earth, is yet steadily opposed in all its important measures ; and regular and 
continual efforts are made to " stop its wheels." 

" .'is citizens lue ought ruith one heart cleave to, and sjipport, o^ir oiun govern- 
ment. It is a government of otir o-vn forming, and administered by men of our oiuji 
choice ; and therefore claims onr confidence and support. , Tie ought to repel, imth 
indignation, every suggestion and slanderous insinuation, calculated to iveaken a 
pist confidence in the rectitude of the intentions of our constituted authorities. Jill sitch 
insi?iuations, at this critical period, proceed from an influence hostile to our peace ,- 
and if permitted to have their intended effect, MAY ACCOMPLISH THE PUR- 
POSES OF OUR ENEmES, IN OUR DIVISION, AND THE OVERTHROW 
OF OUR GOVERNMENT. While, on the one hand, we would avoid passive 
obedience and non-resistance, let us not vibrate i.'ito the other extreme, and be- 
lieve it a duty to be jealous and suspicious of every thing which Is done by our 
rulers. We thought them honest men, and friends to their country, when we 
elected them into office : and what have they since done to forfeit our good 
opimon ? /pet tUeix measwes be examined ^^ ith candoiu-, and we shall assured- 



394 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. [chap. 72. 

ly sa)^, they degei-ve -ivell of their country. In this moment of our political danger, 
let us be impressed with this truth— that— "United we stand— divided we fall." 
The increasing union among us, and the revival and expression of the true 
American spirit, are tokens for good, and augur well in regard to our pohtical 
interests. 

" To tl\£ unfriendly disposition and conduct of a f or eig-n power, ive may ascribe 
the unhappy divisions that have existed amon^ us, -which have so greatly disturbed 
our peace, and threatened the overthrow of our government. Their maxim, to which 
i hey have strictly and steadily adhered, has been, "Divide, and govern." Their 
too great influence among us has been exerted vigorously, and in conformity to a 
eleep-laid plan, in cherishing party spirit, in vilifying the men we ha-ve, by our free 
suffrages, elected to administer our constitution : and they have thus endeavoured 
to destroy the confidence of the people in the constituted authorities, and di- 
vide tlaem from the government." 

A comparison of these doctrines with the doctrines and prac- 
tice of the Rev. Messrs. Osgood and Parish, in 1812, 1813, and 
1814, as exhibited in chap. 56, must excite the most painful sen- 
sations in the mind of every man who feels for the honour of his 
species. It is impossible for the human mind to conceive of a 
more striking contrast — a more deplorable instance of infatuation 
and delusion — or a more awful memorial of, and memento 
against, human weakness. 

From the pulpit, I descend to the civil walk — and submit the 
opinion of Governor Oilman in 1798, from an address to the le- 
gislature, with the echo from both houses. 

From Governor Gilman''s speech to the legislature of JVe^v-Hampshire. 
" Perfection in Iiuman affairs is not to be expected : to satisfy every citizen is 
next to impossible. But if our system of national government is generally good ; 
if it is free ; if we have the choice as frequently as we wish, of persons to ad- 
minister it ; if one of the fundamental and irreversible principles in a republi- 
can government, is, that a majority shall govern ,- is it not proper to give a. firm 
fnipport to the laws and administration of such a government, and for every citizen 
duly to consider how far clamour and opposition thereto has invited or procured, or 
may invite or procure, injuries from any foreign nation ?' 

Extract from the answer of the senate to the above address. 

" Convinced that our national government is formed on the surest basis of li- 
berty; that the majority ought to rule ; that we have an opportunity as often as 
we can rationally wish, to change and elect our rulers, we view it as the palla- 
dium of our rights, and entitled to our firmest support. 

"Althougli jealousy is a laudable trait in a political character, yet when very 
scrupulously exercised towards the administrators of government, it may tend 
to Lessen the confidence of a people in their mlei-s — and we view with regret and in- 
dignation the faction that clamours for the destruction of our peace and government^ 
and conceive its only sowceto be the dregs of successive foreign anarchy, operating 
on the weak and vicious." 

Extract from the answer of the house. 
" As the constitution of the government was framed by the wisest and best 
men ; was adopted after a candid discussion, and upon mature deliberation, 
without violence or tumult ; it belongs to us to repose proper confidence in the of- 
ficers of our own choice, and wihingly afford effective aid to that government 
which we have instituted for the common good. The beneficial effects of the 
constitution of the United Stat.s have been generally felt, and acknowledged to 
be far greater than were at first expected. A spirit of inquiry into the princi- 
ples of a govei'nment, and the mode of its administration, pertains to.a free 
people. But when that spirit becomes intemperate, and its designs are TO PRO- 
MOTE OPPOSITION, TO DIVIDE AND WEAKEN THE GQVEfi^MENT, 



CHAP. 72.J WONDERFUL CONTRAST. 39S 

IT MAY EMBOLDEN FOREIGN POWERS TO INVADE OUR RIGHTS, and 

embarrass the measures necessary to obtain redress. Wherever such a restless, un- 
easy temper appears, we will lend oiu- firmest aid to discourage and correct it." 

Extract from an address of a meeting' of federalists at Elizabeih-to-wn, Sept. 1798. 

" United we are able to protect ourselves without any foreign aid, against all 
attacks from abroad. But agitated by factious opposition to our government, 
which is our only rallying point against danger, and weakened by internal dis- 
sensions, we invite the invasion of foreign powers, expose ourselves to fall an 
easy prey, or to form unequal alliances for our safety. Let us seriously ask our- 
selves who is it that do most towards increasing our expenses and our taxes, in- 
viting the invasion of foreign powers, weakening our means ofdefen(fe, and 
driving us to form European alliances . — whether they who are active to pix)- 
mote miion, to support government, to prepare to repel hostility ; or those who 
busily engender divisions ,- revile our own government ; indiscriminately censure, 
and (as tar as they dare) oppose all its acts ; refuse to repair to its standard ; en- 
deavour to paralize all its efforts, and encourage every disposition to sedition." 

This is a handsome piece of composition, and reflects credit 
on its author. It contains important and instructive lessons on 
political economy. It is one proof among millions to be found in 
the history of mankind, how much easier it is to preach than to 
practice. Had the opposers of the late war borne these doctrines 
in mind, and regulated their conduct by them, they would be 
able to cast a retrospective eye on their past proceedings with 
more comfort and satisfaction than they can at present. — " Uni- 
ted., zve are able to protect ourselves against all attacks from 
abroad^'' is a sacred truth, worthy of being borne in eternal re- 
membrance. — ^" Agitated by factious opposition to our govern- 
ment^ which is our only rallying point against danger, and weak- 
ened by internal dissentions, xve ijivitc the invasion of foreign 
powers, and expose ourselves to fall an easy prey.'' How la- 
mentable it is, that the proposers, patrons, and members of the 
Hartford convention, who, " agitated the country by a factious 
opposition to the government^'' did not reflect that they were, in 
tones of thunder, by every step they took, " inviting the invasion 
of a foreign enemy," exposing their native country " to fall an 
easy prey," and " paralizing all its efforts," as well as " encou- 
raging every disposition to sedition !" Let us hear a few more 
admonitory lines from the same quarter ; — 

" The time is at length come, when all inferior disputes are to be laid aside, 
or to be offered a sacrifice for the general good. — Whatever the objections, if 
any, we have had, against any part of the acts of our administration, ought to be 
entirely suppressed, or at least suspended, till the dangers which threaten vs from 
luithout are 07>ercome or vanquished. In this great object of general concern and 
safety, we have one common and inseparable interest, and should therefoi-e unite 
in one common language and exertion." 

This is a fertile topic, and might be commented on to a great 
extent.* But I trust I have " mack out 7ny case^^ completely, and 

• Some of the extracts in this chapter and in the 56th, are taken from an ex- 
cellent little pamphlet, published in New-Hampshire, and entitled " An address 
to the clergy of New England, on their opposition to the rulers of the United 
fe'tates. Bv'a Lavmtm." 



396 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 73. 

that it would be extreme supererogation to enter into any further 
detail. 

CHAPTER LXXIII. 

Viezv of the prosperity of the United States^ during the various 
administrations* Mighty errors prevalent on this topic. 

A VERY large portion of our citizens have imbibed a deep and 
rooted impression, that from the period when the administration 
of tha general government was withdrawn from the hands of the 
federalists, and placed in those of their political opponents, the 
prosperity of the nation began rapidly to decay. They believe 
that during the presidency of General Washington and that of 
Mr. Adams, particularly the former, our political and commer- 
cial sun had ascended to its meridian height ; that even previous 
to the embargo and restrictive system generally, it had, under 
the administration of Mr. Jefferson descended towards the hori- 
zon ; that those measures sunk it far below, whence it is neyer 
to rise, till the powers of the general government, legislative 
and executive, are restored to the '■'■ genuine sons ofJVashingtorC^ 
— nui-tured in his bosom — formed in his school — imbued with 
his maxims — and determined to tread in his footsteps, and to 
follow his illustrious example. 

The universal prevalence of these opinions among the federal- 
ists of this country, will hardly be controverted. I doubt whe- 
ther there is a man among them, from the highest grade of intel- 
lect down to the opposite extreme, who does not regard it as im- 
pertinence and presumption to call them in question. And the 
prevalence of the impression is not wonderful. The assertions 
have been so often repeated, with so much confidence, and in so 
manv shapes and forms, that it was not in human nature for the 
federalists to withhold assent. It is well known that mankind 
lend an easy credence to those opinions that flatter their vanity, 
olTer incense to their pride, tend to promote their interest, or to 
gratify their ambition. 

The prevalence of these opinions has produced most delete- 
rious consequences. It has embittered fellow-citizens against 
each other with the most virulent animosity. The federalists, 
persuaded that their antagonists have impaired the honour, and 
happiness, and pi-osperity of our common country, have regarded 
them with sentiments of rancour, and hatred, and disgust. And 
if their views of the case were correct, their opponents would be 
fit objects of those hostile feelings. It would be laudable to 
strain every nerve to expel from power men whose whole course 
had proved them unworthy of it. The angry passions raging on 
one side, enkindle their likeness in the brea'^ts of their opponents, 
who are deeply exasperated at the injustice they believe them- 



CHAP. 7S.] AAIERICAN PROSPERITY. 397 

selves to have experienced from their adversaries. This is per- 
fectly natural. And time, which in- all common cases possesses 
the property of diminishing the force of passion, is unfox'tunately 
deprived of this salutary power, by the zeal and activity of those 
who find an interest in fomenting public discord. And that there 
are many of our citizens of this description, possessed of great 
talents, great industry, and great influence, cannot be denied. 

If the allegations against the democratic administrations were 
true, I should most heartily and cordially pray for a change of 
our rulers. I am not in love with ruin or disgrace. And far 
from being willing to sacrifice the honour, or happiness, or inte- 
rest of a great nation for the advantage of a president, vice-pi^e- 
sident, and a few secretaries, &c. &c. there are no ten thousand 
men of either party who, for a single second, ought to be put in- 
to the scale against a tenth part, not to say the whole of the nation. 

I believe that such are the sentiments of the democrats ge- 
nerally. I am convinced that if they could be persuaded that 
Mr. Jefferson or Mr. Madison had sacrificed the interests or 
the honour of their country, they would unhesitatingly prefer Ru- 
fus King, Timothy Pickering, George Cabot, or De Witt Clin- 
ton. Perish the rnan, whoever he be, who would offer up the 
happiness of millions to promote the interests or the views of a 
few ! 

This subject well deserves the most serious consideration. It 
will amply repay the time bestowed on it by the reader. If the 
opinions, which I have stated, be correct, they ought to be as ge- 
Derally promulgated as possible ; no pains nor exertions ought 
to be spared in order to illuminate the minds of those who dis- 
believe them. If they be erroneous, the sooner and more com- 
pletely they are detected, exposed, and " consigned to the tomb 
of the Capulets," the better. And I trust there is no upright, 
candid federalist, that would wish the elevation or the influence 
of his party to be promoted, or regained, or perpetuated by the 
prevalence of error. He would scorn to be wafted to power by 
the unhallowed means of delusion. 



The chief criteria, whereby to decide upon the decay or pros- 
perity of nations, may be reduced to six heads. 

1. Domestic industry and improvements in all their various 
branches. 

2. Foreign commerce. 

3. Increase or decrease of revenue. 

4. Discharge or accumulation of debts. 

5. Navigation. 

6. Population — whether stationary, increasing, or decreasing. 
I shall slightly touch on each of these. 

O. B. ' 52 



39a 



FOLITICAL OLIVE BlliVNCH 



[chap. 73 



SECT. I. Domestic hidiistnj and improvements. 

The first item, which is the most important, and embraces by 
far the greatest sum of human happiness, does not afford those 
marked and decisive documents or data, that the custom houses 
and other public offices furnish for the remaining five. The 
progress of national industry sheds its beneficent influence around, 
without glare or ostentation. Hamlets become villages — villages 
become towns — towns become cities — and cities double their po- 
pulation — almost unobserved. There are few or no documents 
to establish the facts. They are yet, on due investigation, tan- 
gible and strikingly visible. Nevertheless, from the extreme 
scarcity of data or documents, I was almost wholly discouraged 
from entering on this part of the subject, and disposed to appeal 
to the readers personal observations for the rapid advances of 
domestic industry, and the general improvement of the country. 
But I have judged it better to avail myself of the few I possess, 
which are gleaned from Blodget's Economica, than pass the sub- 
ject over in silence. They are principally estimates, and cannot 
therefore be supposed to be entirely correct. But they are suffi- 
cient to answer the purposes of comparison, which is all the ob- 
ject I have in view. 

1. In tillage — 
Anno 1797 Acres 9,600,00 
1801 10,500,00 

1805 11,400,000 

2. Meadows and fallow grounds — 
1797 9,500,000 

1801 9,900,000 

1805 10,350,000 9. \ 

3. Total improved lands— 
1797 35,600,000 

1801 37,400,000 

1805 39,400,000 

1807 39,990,000 

4. Value of cultivated lands per acre- 
1801 S5.60 

1805 6.25 

5. Horses — 
1797 990,000 

1801 1,070,000 

1805 1,200,000 

1807 1,300,000 

6. Horned Cattle— 



1797 
1801 
1805 
1807 
7. Bank notes 
1797 
1801 
1804 



2,220,000 

2,500,000 

2,950,000 

3,200,000 

in circulation — » 

S 10,000,000 

11,000,000 

14,000,000 



1897 S 18,000,000 

8. Metallic medium — 



1797 
1801 
1804 
1806 
1807 



g 16,000,000 
17,000,000 
17,500,000 
18,500,000 
20,000,000 
aluation of real and personal 
tate— 

g 2,190,500,000 
2,430,500,000 
2,502,000,000 
2,518,000,000 



es- 



1797 

1801 
1804 
1807 



10. 

1797 
1801 
1804 
1807 



Toll Bridges- 
No. Capital Stock, 
g 1,100,000 
1,860,000 
2,000,000 



15 

25 
30 
48 



11. Turnpikes and Canals — 
1797 25 ^2,300,000 
1801 33 3,050,000 

1805 48 4,900,000 

1807 82 

12. Insurance Companies — • 
1797 9 S 3,300,000 
1801 22 6,000,000 

1804 40 10,000,000 
1807 17,000,000 



CHAP. 73. 



AMERICAN PROSPERITY. 



199 



13 


Banks. 


1803 S12,317,449 




No. 


Capital Stock. 


1806 19,553,890 




1797 25 


S19,200,000 


Anno 1801. 


1810 


1801 31 


22,400,000 


16. No. of post offices— 957 — 


2403 


1805 39 


39,500,000 


Length of roads tra- 




1807 86 


50,000,000 


velled by mails— 21,840 


37,035 


14. Cash 


in treasarv — 


Weekly transporta- 




1797 


§888,998 


tion in stages 24,490 


46,380 


1801 


3,295,391 


Weekly transporta- 




1803 


4,824,821 


tion in sulkies or 




1806 


4,538,105 


on horseback— 34,380 


61,171 


1807 


9,643,842 


Amount of weekly 




15. Custom house bonds. 


transportation — 58,870 


L33,551 


1797 


§10,405,091 


Yearly transporta- 




1801 


15,237,527 


tion— 3,057,964 5,592,652 



Of the above items, the nhie first are, as I have stated, mere- 
ly estimates. From the nature of the case, they could not be 
otherwise. But they afford tolerable data for calculations and 
comparisons of the advancement of the prosperity of the coun- 
try. The next six items, the toll bridges, tiunpikes, and canals, 
insurance companies, banks, cash in the treasury, and custom 
house bonds, were derived from actual documents, procured by 
the unwearied exertions of the author of the Economica. The 
last item is extracted from a recent post office publication. 

Section II. Foreign commerce, 

I proceed to the second criterion of national prosperity. And 
here the documents are full, complete, and irresistible. They 
deserve, and I hope will receive the most particular attention. 

The federal government was organized and went into opera- 
tion in 1789. No tables of exports were, however, published for 
that or the succeeding year. They began in 1791. I am, there- 
fore, limited to six years of General Washington's administratioij. 

Let it be observed, that from 1791 till 1802 inclusively, there 
was no discrimination, in the official tables of exports, between 
American productions and manufactures, and those foreign arti- 
cles which were re-exported from the countrv. This renders the 
comparison less complete than it would otherwise have been. 



Exports from the United fitates, 

President Washington. 

1791 §19,012,000 

1792 20,753,000 



1793 


26,109,000 


1794 


33,026,000 


1795 


47,989,000 


1796 


67,064,000 




174,188,000 


President Adams, 


1797 


§56,850,000 


1798! 


61,527,000 


1799 


78;66o,000 



domestic and foreign. 
1800 70,971,000 



President Jefferson. 
1801 §94,115,000 
72,483,000 
55,800,000 
77,699,000 



-268,013,000 



1802 
1803 
1804 



1805 
1806 
1807 
1808 



95,566,000 
101,536,300 
108,343,000 

22,430,000 



-300,097,000 



■327,875,000 



400 POIJTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chat. 73. 



President Madison. 

1809 52,203,000 

1810 66,757,000 

1811 61,376,000 



1812 38,527,000 

1813 27,855,000 
246,718,000 



Exportation of American productions and manvf admires. 

President Madison. 



President Jefferson. | 


1803 


42,205,000 


1804 


41,467,000 


1805 


42,387,000 


1806 


41,253,000 


1807 


48,699,000 


1808 


9,433,000 




225,444,000 



1809 


31,405,000 


1810 


42,366,000 


1811 


45,294,000 


1812 


32,658,000 


1813 


25,008,000 




176,73 1,000 



Annual average of America?! exports ^foreign and domestic. 

1. During presidency of General Washington, §35,500,000 

2. During that of Mr. Adams, 67,000,000 

3. For the whole of General Washington's and 1 ^^ ^59 OOO 

Mr. Adams's presidency, J ' ' 

4. During Mr. Jefferson's first period, 75,000,030 

5. During his second, including a year of embargo, 81,900,000 

6. For his whole term, 78,460,000 

7. During Mr. Madison's first five years, includ- ") ^g ^^^ ^^^ 

ing a year and a half of war, J ' ' 

8. For Mr. Jefferson's and Mr. Madison's 67,200,000 

Average of domestic exports. 

1. During six years of Mr. Jefferson's presiden- ") ^7 ^qq qqq 

cy, from 1803 till 1808 inclusive, J ' ' 

2. During five years of Mr, Madison's, 35,300,000 

3. For eleven years from 1803 to 1813, inclusive, 36,500,000 
To the candid reader, desirous to form correct estimates of 

the affairs of his country, and to divest his mind of pernicious- 
errors, I venture earnestly to recominend a careful considera- 
tion of these tables. He will thereby be convinced, that from 
the year 1801 till 1807, inclusive, and until France and Eng- 
land commenced their disgraceful and unparalleled course of ra- 
pine and devastation, " preying on the unprotected commerce of 
a friendly power,'' the United States made as rapid progress 
in the career of prosperity and happiness, so far as respects fo- 
reign commerce, as any nation in the world has ever done. 

Section III. Revenue. 

The third criterion whereby to test the progress of the pros- 
perity of the United States, is the situation of its revenues. 
Decay and decrepitude are incompatible with their increase or 
advancement. I shall therefore state the net amount of the im- 
post of the United States, from 1791 to 1812, inclusive, taken 
from the official documents submitted to Congress by Joseph 
Nourse, Esq. Register General, in pursuance of the order of 



CHAP. 73.] 



AMERICAN PROSPERITY. 



401 



the house of representatives. Of the direct taxes I have not 
a statement — but they are unessential in the formation of a com- 
parison. 



President Washlng'ton. 

1791 6,534,263 

1792 4,614,924 

11 I'lO 187 


President Jefferson, 

1801 13,362,702 

1802 8,327,260 

1803 11,322,427 

1804 14,996,965 


1793 6,073,512 

1794 6,683,313 

1795 7,959,409 
:796 7,368,120 

. '~>R 084 'i54 


1805 14,978,880 

1806 1^,015,317 

1807 16,492,889 

1808 7,176,985 

iT/f, f,p,4 071 


President Adams. 

1797 8,258,111 

1798 6,192,447 

1799 9,035,348 

1800 9,351,346 

.... 1^ 837 '^T^ 


President Madison. 

1809 7,138,676 

1810 12,756,831 

1811 7,888,863 

1812 13,059,855 
40,844,225 





This table requires but little examination. It is decisive and 
overwhelming — and of itself would fully suffice to settle this 
great question. I subjoin the result : 

Average duties on impoi'ts. 

1. General Washington's presidency, six years, ^ 6,500,000 

2. Mr. Adams's four years 8,200,000 

3. General Washington's and Mr. Adams's ten "J 



years. 



; 



7,200,000 



4. Mr. Jefferson's first period of service, four years, 12,000,000 

5. do. second period, four years, 13,000,000 

6. Mr. Madison's first period, 10,210,000 

7. Mr. Jefferson's and Mr. Madison's, twelve years, 11,956,000 

It were needless to add comments. The most superficial 
reader cannot mistake — the most prejudiced dare not reject — 
the strong and irresistible evidence heix laid before the public. 

Section IV. National Debts. 

The next criterion of the decay or prosperity of a nation, is 
Its debts. It is self-evident, that a nation or an individual, whose 
debts are rapidly discharging, cannot be in a state of decay or 
depreciation. In order, therefore, to enable the reader to de- 
cide the question at issue by this criterion, I subjoin a statement 
of the national debt of the United States, on the first day of every 
year, from 1791 till 1812. 



Debt of the United States. 
President Washin^'ton. 

1791 ^ 75,463,476 

1792 77,227,924 

1793 80,352,634 

1794 78,427,404 

1795 80,747,587 

1796 83,762,172 



Debt of tlie United States. 
President Adams. 

1797 g 82,064,479 

1798 79,228,529 

1799 78,408,669 

1800 82,976,204 



4{)2 POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH {chap. 7Z. 



President Jefferson. 

1801 83,038,U50 

1802 80,712,632 

1803 77,054,686 

1804 86,427,120 



J805 82,312,150 
1806 75,723,270 



1807 69,218,598 

1808 65,196,317 



President Madison. 

1809 57,023,193 

1810 53,172,302 

1811 47,913,756 

1812 45,120,150 



This affords a most exhilarating view of the situation of the 
United States, and proves the utter fallacy of the prevailing 
opinions cm this topic. It appears incontestibly, that in twelve 
years of democratic administration, frorn 1801 to 1812, inclusive^, 
the debt was reduced from - $ 83,038,050 
to ----- - 45,120,150 

37,917,900 

notwithstanding the purchase of \ 15 000 000 

Louisiana for J ' ' 

which is an actual reduction of 52,918,900 

And to increase our surprise and our rapturous joy at such a 
glorious view of the immense resources of our blessed country, 
one of the early measures of Mr. Jefferson's administration was 
the repeal of a catalogue of burdensome taxes.* 

Among the wonderful and inexplicable complaints and libels 
against the democratic administration was the repeal of these 
taxes. It is the first time in the history of the world, that the 
repeal of grinding, harassing, and degrading taxes was consider- 
ed as matter of accusation, or as an unpopular measure. 

The taxes repealed, were — t. The excise on stills and domes- 
tic distilled spirits. 2. On refmed sugar. 3. On licences to re- 
tailers. 4. Duties on pleasurable carriages. 5. Stamps. 

In some of the late very elaborate publications of Mr. Pick- 
ering, in which he employed his utmost talents and influence to 
dissuade his fellow citizens from subscribing to the government 
loans, a principal argument was deduced from the wickedness 
of the repeal of these taxes. And the Hartford convention, 
after drawing the most alarming picture of the hideous state of 
public affairs, in enumerating the means whereby 

" A high state of public prosperity .has undergone a miserable and afflicting 
reverse through the prevalence of a weak and profligate pohcy," 

expressly state, as the fourth cause — 

" 7Vie abolition of exiatin^ taxes, requisite to prepare the couiitry for those 
changes to -which nations are alwat/s exposed, -uAth a view to the acquisition of po^ 
pular favour." 

* As a farther proof how extravagantly erroneous the public opinion h.^s 
been on this svibject, the reader will observe, that the debt of the United 
States, at the commencement of 1801, when the federalists ceased to i-ule this 
country, was above 7,000,000 of dollars more than it had been in 1791. 



CHAP. 73.] AMERICAN PROSPERITY. «)2 

I shall not attempt to decide — I leave that task to the mem- 
bers of the Hartford convention — with what propriety in De- 
cember, 1814, the distress, or difficulty, or embarrassment, or 
decay of the United States, real or supposed, could be ascribed 
to the repeal, in 1802, of taxes, some of them most odious, when 
such in the interim had been the overflowing state of the treasu- 
ry, that the public debt had been reduced 37^,918,900 dollars, ex- 
clusive of the purchase of Louisiana. This is a most extraordi- 
nary paradox. 

Section V. Navigatw?i. 

The increase or decrease of the tonnage of a commercial na^ 
tion, is an important criterion of the retrogradation or the ad- 
vancement of its prosperity. Let us calmly enquire into the in- 
dications deducible from this source. 

I lay before the reader a table of the tonnage of the United 
States from 1793 till 1812, inclusive. 

President Washington. 
Tons. 

1793 491,789 

1794 628,415 

1795 747,961 

1796 831,897 
2,700,062 

President Adams. 

1797 876,910 

1798 888,326 

1799 946,407 

1800 973,489 
^ 3,685,132 

President Jefferson. 

1801 1,032,216 

1802 892,102 

^Lverage tonnage of last four years of General ") ^ , ,, ^^ 
Washington's presidency, J" ^ (^^^s. b^5,om 

of Mr. Adams's 921,000 

of General Washington's and Mr. Adams's 79 ,000 
of Mr. Jefferson's eight years, 1,097,000 

of Mr. Madison's first period, ' 1,355,000 

of Mr. Jefferson's and Mr. Madison's, 1,257,000 

I trust that these statements cannot fail to prove the utter 
want of foundation of the idea that the prosperity of the United 
States, so far as respects navigation, has decayed, since the 
ehange of rulers. Notwithstanding the unprecedented depre- 
dations perpetrated on us by both belligerents, the tonnage of die 
nation has increased with a steady pace. The increase during 
the first period of Mr. Madison's administration, is really as- 
tonishing. 

Section VI. Population, 
The statements I shall give on this point are extracted from 
the census of 1800, the last year of the administration of the 





T071S. 


1803 


949,171 


1804 


1,042,402 




<^ r)i «[ o<-)t 


1805 


1,140,366 


1806 


1,208,733 


1807 


1,268,545 


1808 


1,242,443 






President Madison. 


1809 


1,350,178 


1810 


1,442,781 


1811 


1,414,770 


1812 


1,232,502 




— — 5,440,231 



404 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 73. 

federal party, and that of 1810, when their successors had held 
the reins of government for ten years, during which the perni- 
cious effects so generally ascribed to their system, must have 
had ample time to develope themselves. 

1800. 1810. 

Population of Maine, 151,719 228,705 

Vermont, 154,465 217,895 

New Hampshire, 183,858 214,460 

Massachusetts, 422,845 472,040 

Connecticut, 251,002 261,942 

New York, 586,050 959,049 

New Jersey, 211,149 245,562 

Pennsylvania, 602,835 810,091 

Virginia, 886,149 974,622 

North Carolina, 478,105 555,500 

South Carolina, 345,591 415,115 

Georgia, 162,686 252,433 

Kentucky, 220,959 406,511 

Tennessee, 105,602 261,727 

Ohio, 230,760 455,365 

City o^ New York, 60,529 96,373 

City of Philadelphia and 1 ^ gg ogj, 

Liberties, J ' 

City of Baltimore, 26,614 ' 35,583 

To^vn of Boston and rest") 28,614 34,381 

ot Duttolk county J ' 

Newport, 6,739 7,907 

Providence, 7,614 10,071 

Nantucket, 5,617 6,807 

Portsmouth, N. H. 5,339 6,934 

New Haven, 4,049 6,967 

Pittsburg, 1,565 4,768 

Here are most incontrovertible proofs of the advancement of 
the United States in the road of happiness and prosperity. Every 
part of the union which did not labour under disadvantages 
from its crowded population, or its sterility, or the migration of 
its citizens, has made rapid strides in this glorious course. 
What a stupendous increase in the states of New- York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio ! With what 
ineffable delight must every friend of his species contemplate 
these glorious scenes of expanding population, civilization, and 
happiness ! Agriculture, arts, manufactures, commerce, and sci- 
ence, spreading their holy empire where a few years past the 
wild Savage prowled in quest of prey ! 

I dare flatter myself with the hope that I have presented the 
reader with sufficient materials to satisfy him that the glowing 



CHAP. 73], AlVIERICAN PROSPERITY. 403 

statements of the extraordinary prosperity of this country during 
the predominance of federalism, and of its utter decay from 
a change of rulers, are gross errors, utterly void of foundation 
and pregnant with as pernicious consequences, as most that have 
ever prevailed in this or perhaps in any other country. This 
nation, previous to the operation of the federal goveniment was 
in a most prostrate and abject state. Arts, trades, and commerce 
languished. Industry had little or no encouragement. Tender 
laws and other measures, impolitic and unjust, had banished con- 
fidence between man and man. An unfavorable balance of 
trade had exhausted the country of its metallic medium. The 
states were hostile to, and jealous of, each other. In a Avord 
the prospects of the nation, for want of a general controlling go- 
vernment, had been so extremely gloomy, that good men began 
to doubt whether in its consequences the revolution would de- 
serve to be styled a blessing. 

But the establishment of our most noble and most excellent 
form of government, proiuced a rapid and astonishing change. 
Confidence was completely restored. Arts, trade, and commerce 
revived. State jealousy was disarmed of all its powers to re- 
tard or destroy public prosperity. In a word, the happiness and 
prosperity of the nation were fixed on foundations as durable, I 
hope, as the rock of Gibraltar. 

But it is equally and undeniably true, that the country was in- 
comparably more prosperous for seven entire years of Mr. Jef- 
ferson's administration, than during the administration of his pre- 
decessors. This is a truth, a strong truth, deny it who may, which, 
if I courted popularity, I should not dare to promulgate. To 
many it will appear little short of blasphemy. But whatever may 
be its appearance, and however unpopular it may be, I have fully 
proved, that during those seven years, the population, the ex- 
ports, the revenue, the tonnage, and the domestic industry of the 
nation, had made more progress, than they had done during the 
administration of General Washington ; and that the public debt, 
which, during the administration of the two first presidents, had 
been increased, was, under their successor, reduced with un- 
paralleled rapidity. And it therefore incontrovertiblv appears, 
that the country was more prosperous during that period, than 
under the general's administration, although it had been then 
highly prosperous. 

I entertain a due sense of the transcendent merits of General 
Washington. He was indisputably a truly great and most illus- 
trious character. His conduct during the revolution earned him 
a conspicuous niche among the small but glorious band of heroes 
who saved their country, or who sacrificed their lives in the glo- 
rious struggle to save her. He ranks with Leonidas of Sparta, 
Epaminondas of Thebes, Cimon of Athens, Alfred of England, 
O. B. 53 



406 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 7± 

Wallnce of Scotland, Henry IV. of France, Brian Boiromhe of 
Ireland, Maurice Prince of Orange, Gustavus Vasa of Swe- 
den, Andrew Doria of Genoa, and others of this description, 
who hold the first rank among the benefactors of the human 
race. And to those who read the statements of the wretched ma. 
terials with which he had to form his armies, as may be seen 
chap. 68, his merits will be vastly enhanced. The miserable sys. 
tem pursued by the eax-ly congresses, of trusting the fate of the 
country to short enlistments and to militia, trebled his difficulties, 
and trebled his merits in struggling against and overcoming^ 
them. 

Independent of General Washington's services during the 
war, he was eminently useful to his country afterwards. But 
for the influence of his name, the federal convention would 
hardly have agreed upon a constitution. Of this, it is true, there 
is no complete proof — nor is it fully susceptible of proof. It must 
eternally rest on mere opinion. But any man who attentively 
reads Luther Martin's statement of the proceedings of the con- 
vention, (the only published record) and who duly considers the 
difficulty they experienced to agree upon a form of government 
— and how nearly all their efforts escaped being blasted, even 
with the advantage of General Washington's influence and exer- 
tions, will not regard this opinion as very extravagant. But I 
force it on no man. I further believe, that even after the consti- 
tution was promulgated, the influence of his name and support 
was absolutely necessary to ensure it success. It was in jeopardy. 
The minorities in several of the state conventions were nume- 
rous, active, and influential. There was, therefore, considerable 
difficulty in setting the machinery of the government in motion. 
It was a truly arduous task. But when once the vessel was fairly 
launched, the duties of the pilot v/ere quite easy. 

With this immense and solid stock of indisputable claim on 
the gratitude of his country, and on the esteem and admiration 
of the great and good of our era and of all future ages, he needs 
not any addition to his fame, of which the title is not as clear as 
the noon-day sun. And to ascribe to him, or his councils exclu- 
sively, the flood of prosperity that succeeded the establishment 
of a solid form of government, would be a radical error against 
the truth of history. As well might we ascribe the fertility of the 
soil, when both seasons and climate are favourable, to the vigi- 
lance of the steward who superintended the plantation, as ascribe 
the beneficent effects of unshackled and protected industry, to 
JTrcsidents, governors, or kings. All that mankind require, in, 
order to be industrious and happy, is to have their property se- 
cure. And this is the natural effect of wise laws. 

If the nations of Europe, oppressed by wasteful and destroy- 
ing governments — at war forty or fifty years out of every century 



t BAP. 73.] AMERICAN PROSPERITY. 40? 

— curbed and constrained and controlled in their industry by 
monopolies, and restrictions, and grinding taxes — if, i say, un- 
der all these, and numberless other disadvantages, the European 
nations make advances in prosperity, as is undeniably the case, 
would it not be inexpressibly wonderful, if we did not run ra- 
pidly in the same career — if we did not outstrip them as far as 
the hale, hearty, vigorous, full-blooded racer outstrips the stage 
horse, worn out by hard service, and merciless usage ? 

To suppose a parallel case. A ship is, in the technical sense, 
well found in every respect. She has a noble crew. She is on the 
open sea with the winds perfectly favourable. She runs rapidly 
before them, and makes nine, ten, or eleven knots an hour. She 
reaches her destined port in perfect safety. ^Vould it not be ig, 
norance or folly to ascribe to the skill of the captain the rapidity 
of her movements or the success of her voyage ? It is chiefly 
when the sky is overcast with clouds and darkness — when the 
furious hurricanes howl around the ship — when the waves, open- 
ing wide their devouring jaws, seem ready to swallow her up, 
that there is a demand for the energy, the talents, and the forti= 
tude of the master of the vessel. 

Without any disrespect to presidents, and governors, and kings, 
this is a pretty analogous case to theirs. In times of tranquillity, 
there is little room for a display of the talents of an executive 
magistrate. In a well-ordered state, the laws maybe said to exe- 
cute themselves. The long train of judges, jurors, attorney 
generals, marshals, constables, &c. are eternally on the alert, to 
prevent infraction. 

It may and will seem a paradox (I shall be charged with deal- 
ing in paradoxes) to assert, as I do, that at least as much talents 
are actually necessary for a legislator as, almost in every case, 
for a governor, and, in ordinary cases, for a president. 

In a free representative government like ours, the grand, con- 
trolling, and supereminent power is in the legislature. They or- 
dain, direct, command. Their will, fairly expressed, enforces 
obedience equally from the governor or president, as from the 
lowest mendicant. If the governor or president, as the case may 
be, dare to violate their commands, he is impeachable. 

I return to Mr. Jefferson. " But," it will be said, " the 
prosperity of the United States was arrested during the last 
years of his administration.'' This I do not, I cannot deny. It 
appears fully evident from all the documents I have given. 
Whence arose this stagnation ? This is an important enquiry. 

The application in 1805 of the rule of the war of 1756, had 
made great havoc on the trade, commerce, and resovirces of the 
country. But they readily recovered from the stroke. At the 
close of 180r, the French decrees and British orders in council 



408 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chip. 73: 

went into full operation. And they were met by our embargo. 
I have already stated, and I hope there is not a man of candour 
in Europe or America who will doubt or deny, that these mea- 
sures of France and England reduced the United States to the 
alternative — of war with one or both — or else an embargo. We 
were literally hunted off the ocean. 

That an embargo was less pernicious than war — and that it 
was highly meritorious to try every other means previous to the 
horrible recourse to arms, no " friend of peace" can deny. 

But be this as it may, as the arrestation of our prosperity 
arose from the measures of France and England — and as it has 
never been pretended that the American administration advised 
or encouraged those powei-s to adopt their orders and decrees, 
it conclusively follows that the outcry against the restrictive sys- 
tem of Mr. Jefferson, which these predatory and outrageous 
measures rendered indispensable, is utterly unjust and un- 
founded. 

There is another mode of deciding this question. If the demo- 
cratic administrators of the general government really exercised 
hostility against commerce, they had no mode of displaying that 
hostility but by the enaction of anti-commercial laws, or the re- 
peal of pre-existing laws favourable to commerce. This is sell- 
evident. Except in this shape, they are as perfectly powerless 
over commerce as a council of Indians held in a wig-wam. And 
if there were any anti-commercial laws enacted, they must be 
still extant. The statute books are every where to be found. 
And I now in the face of the United States and of Christendom, 
deny that a single law can be produced, enacted during the ad- 
ministration of Mr. Jefferson, which can by any man of charac- 
ter be ascribed to hostility to commerce. There is not one. Nor 
was any law favourable to commerce repealed. Let the statute 
books he carefully examined, and the laws brought to the se- 
verest scrutiny. 

It would be most extravagant folly to ascribe the law of 1 806, 
prohibiting the importation of certain articles of British manu- 
facture, to the hostility of the government to commerce. This 
law was enacted in consequence of the clamours and remon- 
strances of the commercial men themselves, in order to induce 
Ens^land to cease her unjust and injurious depredations upon 
their commerce. 

We now draw towards a close. We have seen, I repeat, that 
the population, the exports, the tonnage, the domestic industry, 
and the revenue of the nation, made rapid pi'ogress for seven 
years of Mr. Jefferson's administration ; and that during the same 
period its debts had most rapidly decreased — and it appears that 
no law hostile to commerce was enacted — no law favourable to 
commerce repealed — and that our prosperity continued till it Avas 



CHAP. 73.] AMERICAN PROSPERITY. 409 

cut up by the roots by foreign powers. How, then, can a candid 
federalist lose sight of justice, or propi-iety, or the holy rule, 
*' do as you would be done by," so lar as to charge to the past 
or present administration, the consequences of measures over 
which they had no controul ? The federalists would complain 
most grievously, were they made responsible for those of Mr. 
Jefferson or Mr. Madison. And where is their justice in ma- 
king Mr. Jefferson or Mr. Madison responsible for the mea- 
sures, or the consequences of the measures, of Mr. Percival or 
Napoleon Bonaparte ? 

If I have succeeded, to the extent of my wishes, and indeed of 

my calculations, to tStablish the positions I have laid down in 

-this chapter, I cannot fail to have rendered a great and lasting 

service to my fellow-citizens of both descriptions, federalists and 

democrats. 

The former I shall have convinced of the unsoundness of their 
towering pretensions to an exclusive promotion of the prosperi- 
ty of this nation, as well as of the extreme injustice of the strong 
and damning accusations they have preferred against, and the 
deadly hostility they have borne towards, their fellow-citizens, 
who are wholly guiltless of the crimes laid to their charge. These 
are important truths deservingof their most serious consideration. 
To retract error is magnanimous. To pursue a course of error, 
merely because it has been unfortunately commenced through 
hiadvertence, is worse than folly. These considerations ought 
to induce them to lower their tone, and to regard their brethren 
with more kindness and charity than they have heretofore ex- 
tended to them. 

There is one point which cannot be too much or too frequently 
enforced. The federalists have been divested of the powers of the 
general government for above sixteen years. That entire period 
they have spent in an unceasing struggle to regain the power 
they had lost. They have spared neither pains nor expense. They 
possess large numbers of men of powerful talents, which are 
in constant requisition for the purpose. They have greatly the 
superiority of newspapers in perhaps all the seaport towns, 
owing to mercantile influence.* They have struggled in peace 
— they have struggled in war — they have struggled when the 
nation might be said to be almost wholly free from taxation 
' — and when under the pressure of taxes of the most oppressive 
kii^d — they have struggled while we were covered with disgrace 
and overwhelmed by disaster — and they have struggled when a 
halo of glory surrounded the United States. They have strug- 
gled under every possible variety of circumstances. They have 
left nothing unessayed. In this struggle their beloved country 

•■ In Pliiladelphia, there are six federal and four democratic papers. The 
proportion is about the same in other cities. 



410 POLITICAL OLIVK BRANCH. [chai". 73, 

was brought to the jaws of perdition. In this struggle, they 
were placed in the mortifying predicament, that their views 
were likely to prosper by the defeat and disgrace — and to be ut- 
terly disappointed by the success, of their beloved country. And 
in this struggle, some of their leaders committed acts in aiding 
and abetting the enemy, which, under any other government, or 
in any other nation, would have forfeited their lives. Alter all 
these struggles and efforts, they are as far as ever from the at- 
tainment of the prize which they have for above sixteen years 
been devouring with their longing eyes. 

And what has been the result of these efforts ? To engender 
and disseminate a spirit of faction, the dicest scourge that ever 
cursed a country — to divide man from man — to demoralize the 
nation — to prepare us of late for civil war and all its horrors — 
to deprive themselves of all the influence their numbers, their 
talents, and their virtues, would have -insured them — and to 
place them in the frightful situation of opposing almost all the 
measures of the administration, however wise or salutary — 
however well calculated to promote the happiness and glory of 
their country. 

It is time to pause — to cast a retrospective eye on the past — 
to look forward for the result. A very little reflection will suf- 
fice to convince them, that if they regard their honour as a party 
— their character in history — their duty as citizens — and the 
welfare of their country — a change, a radical change is necessary. 
No man of common sense, who pays attention to the existing 
circumstances of the United States, can persuade himself that 
they have any chance of regaining power, unless by a convul- 
sion, in which they would be the earliest and greatest sufferers, 
and which they would have every reason to curse most bitterly. 
And surely "vvith the wounds of bleeding, gasping France before 
their eyes — with her groans in their ears — they would not be so 
mad, so blind, so lost to reason, to common sense, to religion, 
to public spirit, to all regard for themselves and their country, 
as to pursue power through such a desperate road as a convuU 
sion. If they have failed to gain ground in the great states of 
New- York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina, when 
war, stagnation of business, and depreciation of property of every 
kind, aided their efforts to render their adversaries unpopular, is 
it not " hoping against hope,'' to calculate on producing this ef- 
fect when smiling Peace with her cornucopia has once more re- 
visited our favoured land ? 

Let them take the advice of a real friend, although a political 
opponent. Let them not render a government, whose only im-^ 
portant defect is its feebleness, still more feeble, and thus endan- 
ger its destruction, by a blind and indiscriminate opposition, 
forbidden by every principle of common sense ancl patriotism^ 



CHAP, n.] MISCELLANEOUS FACTS. 411 

Let them with their utmost energy oppose all impolitic, inju- 
rious, or unjust measures — but let them yield a cordial and 
hearty support to every one calculated to promote the public 
good. This is what constitutes a noble and dignified opposition 
pai'ty. Let them, if they choose, use all their efforts to regain 
the power they have lost, by fair and honourable means. Let 
them charitably regard their political adversaries, as intending 
to pi'omote the public good, even when they believe them in er- 
ror. Let them make allowance for human imperfection, from 
which they are no more exempt than their antagonists. By this 
course they will make more progress in one year than they have 
in sixteen by intemperate violence. This has recoiled, and will 
continue to recoil on themselves. 

If I have in this chapter, done a kindness to the federalists, I 
have performed an equal service to the democrats, by clearing 
up satisfactorily, various points of considerable importance to 
their character. I hope I have fully and completely disproved 
the heinous charge adduced against them, of destroying the pro- 
sperity of their country — a charge which has gained credence*, 
even across the Atlantic, from its incessant reiteration here. 



CHAPTER LXXIV. 

3fiscellaneous facts and observations. ' 

In this chapter I shall collect a number of unconnected facts 
and observations, which I have not been able to introduce else- 
where. . 

I. 

A very moderate degree of knowledge of history, or human 
affairs, furnishes numberless instances of the discordance be- 
tween very plavisible anticipations and the actual results on 
which they are predicated. I offer one. The best friends of 
this country were always distressed at the probable consequences 
of a war upon the southern states. It was presumed that such 
a state of things would afford a favourable opportunity, which 
would be eagerly embraced by the slaves, to rise upon their 
masters, and act over again the horrors of St. Domingo. It was 
not taken into consideration, that a state of war requiring mar- 
tial preparations and arrangements, would greatly add to the fa^ 
cility of crushing insurrection, without in the least adding to 
the means of its organization. It was als(» anticipated that the 
hardy and enterprizing state of Massachusetts would shew such 
a bold front towards an invading enemy, as to totally forbid, or 
at least compel him to abandon, the attempt. Events have falsi- 
fied both calculations. No insurrection was attempted, or per- 
haps thought of by the slaves to the southward. Georgia, a 



412 POLITICAL OLIVE BliANCH. [chap. 74 

feeble southern state, acquired a high degree of honour by the 
war. It covered Massachusetts with disgrace. 

II. 

The attempt to impress men from on board the Chesapeake, 
was not the first outrage perpetrated by the British on an Ame- 
rican national ship. During the administration of Mr. Adams, 
several sailors were, in the West Indies, pressed from on board 
the Baltimore, a public vessel of the United States. 

III. 

Violent partizans have in all ages believed the monstrous doc- 
trine, that the end sanctifies the means ; a doctrine the fruitful 
parent of numberless crimes. This frequently leads parties to 
adopt measures at which each individual member would have 
shuddered. Our country has witnessed various instances of this 
kind. Among the rest, unceasing eiforts have been made by some 
of the most zealous and violent opposers of the administration, 
to persuade the public that the late war was a measure concerted 
between Bonaparte and our administration, and for which the 
former had paid the latter liberally. The following letter which 
first appeared in the Boston Centinel, was one of the innumer= 
able means employed for this purpose. And had the British 
agents in Paris entered into the project, and afforded any coun- 
tenance to the accusation, it would have gained universal cre- 
dence among the enemies of the administration in this country, 
and might have produced alarmmg consequences. Verv much 
to their credit and for our happiness, they allowed it to die a na- 
tural death. . 

"mPOHTANT LETTETJ. 

" The orig-inal of a letter from an American g'enlleman in Paris, of which 
the following' is an extract, has been seen by the editor, who vouches for its 
having' been faithfully copied therefrom : — 

" raris. May 26, 1814. 

" The treaty is nearly concluded, and we shall once more see all the world 
in peace, excejjting- our own country — thanks to the wisdom of the democrats 
and the partizans of Bonaparte ! Since tlie war has been declared, he has not 
exci-cised one single act of amity or friendship, either toward the nation or any 
hidividual. It is very well known by every one here who has connexion with 
the government, thcit it luas by hriberti that the vote for the war ivas obtained. 
A gentlciruin employed in the office of the department of foreign affairs, told 
me, that he naw on the books the names of the senators bribed, and the sums paid 
each nf them bij Serrurier //.' 1 hope in a short time to be able to procure a 
copy of it, to send to you. The country was sold by Annstrong before he left 
l-'aris, and the war was decided upon ; and in consequence he was made secretary 
of war, the better to accomplish the diabolical system .'.'.' I hope the events which 
have taken ])lace in Europe will enlighten the American people, and shew 
them their true interest; and that they will have resolution and patriotism 
enough to dismiss from their councils men wlio have so basely betrayed theii- 
country and the confidence that was reposed in them by their fellow citizens. 
This is the first step towards making an honourable and durable peace, wliich 
must be the desire of every true American." Boston Centinel. 

This letter was re-copied, as '■^ a most important document^'' 
into a large portion of the federal papers. 



CHAP. 74] FORGERY. 413 

IV. 

French and English injluence. 
The United States have i-esounded with the charge of French 
influence, which I have incidentally touched upon in some of 
the preceding pages. Of its existence a large portion of our 
citizens are as thoroughly satisfied as of any of the demonstra- 
tions of Euclid. On the subject of British influence there is an 
almost total silence, although from sameness of language, mer- 
cantile intercourse, and the powerful operation in our cities of 
British capital and British agents, it is plain and palpable. On 
the 12th of January, 1814, governor Strong delivered an ad- 
dress to the legislature of Massachusetts, in which he laid con- 
siderable emphasis on a — 

" Proposal made by the French emperor that the congress at Prague should 
be composed of plenipotentiaries from France, the United States, Denmark, 
and the other allied princes on the one hand, and the plenipotentiaries of Eng- 
land, Prussia, and their alhes on the other." 

From this proposal the worthy governor implied " a connex- 
ion with France in the war" — in other words, the hideous hydra 
of " Fren.ch influence." 

While he thus sagaciously discovered French hifluence^ or 
French connexions, in a circumstance so utterly unimportant, is 
it not astonishing that he wholly overlooked the extent of Bri- 
tish injluence in Boston, the town wherein he wrote his address 
— and that he was as silent as the grave about the enormous 
supplies of specie at that very time furnished to the British na- 
tion then at war with his native country — and about the open, 
undisguised intercourse carried on with the enemy, and the 
public sales of his government bills? This is most assuredly 
" straining at gnats, and swallowing camels." 

V. 
Forgery of ships'' papers. 

In the enumeration of the grievances whereby the United 
States were driven to war with England, little has been said on 
the subject of the forgery of our naval papers, whereby our flag 
was discredited, the British commerce protected, and extended 
at our expense, and our vessels exposed to the indignation " T 
the other belligerents, who must, in numberless instances, h:i '^ 
found it impossible to discriminate between vessels fitted out in 
England with simulated documents, and vessels fitted out bona 
fide in the United States. It is impossible to find an upright 
man in the world, who will not loudly and unhesitatingly con- 
demn and execrate such an odious, such a detestable practice. 

Of the existence of this practice, no man doubts. But ot the 
extent to which it was carried, I believe very few are aware. I 
submit a few documents which will throw light on the subject— - 
and shall leave it then to the reader's reflections. 
O. B. 54 



414 POLITICAL OLIVE BIlA^XH, [chap. 7i 

Mr. Brougham, member of parliament for Liverpool, in a 
speech on the subject of the orders in council, read the follow- 
ing circular from a house in that city, established to carry on 
the manufacture of simulated papers. 



Liverpool, 



" Gentlemen — We take the liberty herewith to InfoiTn you that we have es-- 
tablished ourselves in this town, FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING SIMU- 
LATED PAPERS, which we are enabled to do in a way v/hich will give am- 
ple satisfaction to our employers, not only being- in possession of the original 
documents of the sliips' papers, and cleai-ances to various ports, a list of which 

we ainiex ; but our Mr. G B having worked with his brother, Mr. 

J B , in the same line, for the last two years, and understanding all the 

necessary languages. 

" Of any changes that may occur in the different places on the continent, 
we ai-e careful to have the earliest information, not only fi-om our own con- 
nexions, but from Mr. J B , who lias proffered his assistance in every 

way, and who has for some time past made simulated papei's for Messrs. B 

8c P , ot this town, to whom we beg leave to refer you for further infor- 
mation. We remain. Sic." 

Then follows a list of about twenty places, from and to which 
they can forge papers, having all the clearances ready by them 
from the different public agents the moment they receive intel- 
ligence that any merchant may need their assistance in this 
scheme of fabrication.* 

From the London Mo7mi7ig Chronicle, June 12, 1813. 
" To ship brokers, custom house agents, notaries pubhc, merchants, &c. — Si- 
mulated papers and seals, capital counting-house fi.xtures, twenty very excel- 
lent and expensive charts and maps, &c. — By Mr. Sampson, at his ware- 
house, 16 Size lane, Bucklersbury, on 'I'hursday next, at 11, by direction of 
the assignees. 

" The valuable fixtures and fittings up of the counting-houses, thirty-four 
boxes containing simulated ships'' papers and seals for foreign countries, various 
coloured inks; foreign writing paper, &c. of Mr. Peter Vander A. A. merchant, 
a bankrupt, (removed from his offices. No. 9, Water lane. Tower-street) com- 
prising seven mahogany one flap and two flap counting house desks, book 
case, two capital library and writing tables, with drawers, stamping and sealing 
presses, a patent instantaneons light macliine, an excellent mahogany portable 
writing desk witli secret drawers, two patent polygraphs, several capital charts, 
amongst winch ai'e the Northern Sea, the Cattegat, the Azores, tlie Atlantic 
Ocean, the Baltic Pilot, West Indies, British Channel, coast of England and 
lloUaud, Mediterranean, Europe, Asia, and America; Mercator's World ; Lau- 
rie and Whittle's new map of the British isles, on spring rollers and boxes ; 
Cary's Universal Atlas; a new ledger, journal and waste book, five volumes of 
the Beauties of England and Wales, and ninety -five numbers of ditto, six mo- 
rocco leather cases, &c. To be viewed two days preceding the sale, at the bro- 



* 



In noticing this matter in the house of commons, Mr. Stephens, author of 
War in Disguise," said, " he would ask gentlemen sincerelij, were they pre- 
pared to abandon all trade to tiie continent of Europe on account of those ob- 
jections, in point of moraliti/, which had been stated by the honourable mover? 
[Mr, Brougham.] He felt himself perfectly ready to meet any gentleman upon 
this ground ; and lie really believed he would find few who had iveakness 
enough to think, or hypocrisij enough to assert, that the whole track' of Europe ought 
to be abandoned on account of the immorality of the frauds necessarilij practised in 
the carrying it on. As to the forging \>a.\tcvs of the French consuls' certificates 
of origin, he was convinced that neither this, nor shewing false colours to the 
enemy, would be supposed so serious an inunoraiity as to make us consent to 
abandon all our trade." IVeckly Register . 



l. 


s. 


</. 


8 


8 





2 


2 





2 


2 





3 








CHAP. 74.] UPSTART PRIDE. 415 

leer's warehouses ; catalogues may be had of Messrs. Sweet and Stokes, solici- 
tors, Basinghall-street, and of Mr. Sampson, 16, Size lane, Bucklersburv." 

Extract from the speech of J\L\ Spooner, at a meeting in Binninpham, 

March 31, 1812. 
" The evil that presses stronger upon my mind, as respects the hcense sys- 
tem, is the great degi'adation it produces in the national character. It is lament- 
able that a nation hitherto standing liigli in moral estimation, an.xious to pro- 
mote true knowledge, and zealous to spread the principles of pure religion, 
should thus lay itself open to the imputation of forcing a trade by fraud and 
perjury, and tliat, too, under the sanction of government. It must seriously 
ufflict ever%' one zealous for the true honour and real interests of his countr\' 
that IT HAS BEEN ADmTTED IN THE COURTS OF ADAHRALTvi 
THAT UNDER PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES IT WAS NECESS \Ry TO 
WINK AT SIMULATED PAPERS ! ! ! In carrying on this trade, the captain 
of the vessel must be furnished with /wo ^ts of papers diametrically opposite to 
each other, both of which he must swear to be tnie. Me must also swear at one place 
that the property is British, in another that it is nejitral .'" 

In Liverpool, in the fall of 1811, the price of forged papers 
was as follows : 

American Register, - - - - ... 

Sea Letter, ..--,.... 

Clearance, ...-..».- 
Bills of Lading, with notaiy's certificate of property, 3 sets, 

I shall close the subject with the following judicious and libe- 
ral remarks from a London paper, upon, and just reprobation of, 
this vile system, which goes the full length of demoralizing the 
mass of the persons engaged in commerce in any nation where 
it is countenanced. 

From a London paper. 
"When we hear the accusation of treacherous neutrals daily made against 
the American nation, we ought at least to inquire whether it is just before we 
give it any credence. If, however, we assist her in obtaining this character, 
and reap the advantages of the prostitution of her flag, we ought to be silent. 
It is an undoubted fact, and wej.1 known to all concerned in tlie Baltic trade, 
that most of the English sliips which have gone to the north of Europe for two 
years past, have assumed the American flag, and taken simulated papers, by 
wliich they have been permitted to an entry. The general prevalence of this 
practice produced a seizure of all the ships under American colours, so that, 
in many instances, the neutral American mercliants suffered. It was a subject 
of remonstrance by Russia, Denmal'k, and Sweden, to the American consuls 
there, that their neutral flag was thus unfairly assumed by one of the bellige- 
rents. In these instances, therefore, we have no rig-ht to charge the Americans 
with bad faitli, as the adventures were commenced and concluded by Enghsh 
merchants in England." 

VL 

Upstart pride. 

Among the blots and blemishes of this country, " upstart 
pride''' ranks very high, and produces very ruinous conse- 
quences. 

A man comes to the United States as a redemptioner. By 
his labour for three or four years in a state of servitude, he de- 
frays the expense of his passage. He afterwards, by " saving 
cheese-parings and ends of candles," and stinting himself of ne-. 



416 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap, 74- 

cessaries, makes a little money. He marries a wife, a personage 
equally exalted with himself. They rake and scrape together a 
few thousand dollars, and their ideas expand with their enorinous 
xvealth. They have four, five, or six sons. And it would be too 
degrading to stoop to make any of them tradesmen or mecha- 
nics. No. They must all hcmarchants — or doctors — or lawyers. 
Hence we are overrun with broken merchants, and hungry doc- 
tors and lawyers : and hence arises a most serious and alarming 
evil, the removal of which demands the efforts of all the friends 
of their country. There are, alas ! thousands of estimable men 
scattered through the United States, whose talents and fortunes 
would have qualified them for useful members of society as 
farmers, artists, or mechanics — but who are actually thrown 
away to themselves and the public, by being devoted to the 
mercantile, or legal, or medical profession. 

The mercantile profession being extravagantly crowded, the 
competition in our markets for the productions of the country for 
exportation, enhances the price here. And the great competition 
of sellers in the foreign markets sinks the price there. The ope- 
ration, therefore, of the pernicious prejudice, whereby this class 
of our citizens is overstocked, is two-fold — its injurious effects 
are felt at home and abroad. To this source, in a great mea- 
sure, may be ascribed the extravagant proportion of bankrupt- 
cies that have taken place among the merchants in this country, 
for many years. The great number of sea-ports in the United 
States, wherein foreign commerce is carried on, creates such a 
competition in the markets abroad^ as must at all times subject 
American commerce to immense disadvantage. It is therefore 
the height of madness to extend or increase the difficulty under 
which our commerce must thus constantly and inevitably labour. 

VII. 

3Iamifactiires. 

Many of our citizens have been led into egregious errors on 
the vital subject of the promotion and encouragement of domes- 
tic manufactures, by an outcry that has been raised against the 
inanufacturers, that in all cases wherein legal protection is afford- 
ed them, they take an unjust and ungenerous advantage of the 
public, and enormously enhance the price of their goods, where- 
by their fellow-citizens are unjustly laid under heavy contribu- 
tion. And therefore many of our members of congress sagaci- 
ously determine to kt this useful class of men, who do more to 
establish the true independence of their country, than any other, 
struggle against the multifarious disadvantages under which our 
infant manufactures labour, in a competition with the matured 
and long-established manufactures of Europe. 

It is not easy to conceive of any more miserable error than 
this, or that comes with a worse grace from those who propagate 



CHAP. 74.] MANUFACTURES^. 417 

it. Who are they ? Merchants, agriculturists, house owners, 
money lenders, &c. &c. 

Let us examine each of these classes separately. I begin with 
the merchant. When he imports a cargo of any kind whatever 
does he regulate the price by the cost ? — does he display the dis- 
interestedness and self-denial which he so eloquently preaches 
up to the manufacturer ? Suppose he brings into market an arti- 
cle whose cost is one dollar, but which, from its scarcity and 
demand, will sell for fifty. Does he hesitate to require and 
insist on fifty ? Not an instant. And he would have no scruple 
to demand one hundred, or one thousand, if the market would 
warrant it. Let the merchant, then, never rail against the ex- 
tortion of the manufacturer. Let him impose an eternal silence 
on his tongue, upon this topic, so pregnant with materials for his 
own condemnation. 

Next in order comes the agriculturist. And as a large por- 
tion of the members of our legislative bodies is composed of 
gentlemen of this class, the appeal has been strongly and too 
successfully made to their passions and prejudices. And they 
freely re-echo the cry begun by the merchants against the pre- 
datory spirit of the manufacturers. They forget the strong par 
rable of " the mote and the beam." Suppose a farmer to bring 
1000 barrels of flour to a city whose inhabitants are perishing 
with famine. Where are then his bowels of compassion ? Where 
his tenderness for his suffering fellow men ? Where his abhor- 
rence of extortion and depredation ? Will he sell his flour for 
the customary price ? No. No. No. He takes the guage and 
measure of the general distress. And in proportion to the de- 
gree of misery , and suffering, and starvation that prevails, he 
fixes his price. 

The owner of houses and lands comes next in turn. And he 
is in the same predicament with the merchant and agriculturist. 
He uniformly regulates the rent of his houses and lands by the 
demand, not by the cost. I have paid for the use of a house 
for three months, during the prevalence of yellow fever, at least 
as much rent as would have been required for a year at any 
other period. A very small, narrow house in Market street, 
Philadelphia, which could not have cost above two thousand 
dollars, rents for one thousand dollars per annum. 

On the subject of the generosity of the money lender, it is 
needless to descant. His tenderness, and mercy, and benevo- 
lence, have so long been the subject of celebration and pane- 
gyric by moral and dramatic writers, and by sermonists, that 
they cannot have escaped the observation of the most super- 
ficial. 

If therefore, the manufacturers really increased their profits 
with the increase of demand, it would not be a just subject of 
complaint, with any of the other classes of society, who exactly 



^18 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chab. 74, 

pursue this plan themselves. But it does not follow, that a rise 
in the price of a manufactured article produces an increase of 
the profits of the manufacturer. By no means. Three items- 
regulate the price of manufactures — the cost of the material — 
the price of labour — and the profit of the manufacturer. Now 
it is obvious, that an increase of demand always increases the 
price of the first — and very frequently of the second. Let us 
then suppose, that, of a yard of broadcloth, which sells for six 
dollars, the raw material costs two — the labour two — and that 
the manufacturer has a profit of the other two. If the demand 
be by any means greatly increased, the price of the wool may 
rise half a dollar — and of the labour as much more. Thus the 
article may be sold at seven dollars — and the manufacturer not 
make more per yard — and less per cent, than when he sold at six 
dollars. This is a random case — but sufficient to elucidate the 
point. 

Against extortion on the part of manufacturers, the public 
have two good safeguards. One is, the competition among 
themselves, which is at all times sufficient to prevent imposition 
to any very material extent. The other is, the danger of encou- 
raging the European articles, which are always ready to be 
poured into the country in extravagant quantities. 

VIII. 

Excise. 

The most odious and oppressive form in which public contri- 
butions can be levied, is, excise. However free the constitution 
or laws of a country may generally be, those citizens or subjects 
on whom an excise system operates, are, so far as respects the 
support of government, in a state of as much oppression as the 
subjects of the veriest despotism. Their houses are liable to 
domiciliary visits — the whole of their business open to the in- 
spection of tax-gatherers — they are subject to the necessity of 
keeping their accounts according to rules and orders, with which 
it is almost impossible for many of them to comply — and in 
many cases they are liable to pains and penalties for perjury, 
when their intentions are perfectly fair and honourable. And, so 
far as respects property, despotism does not, I believe, exhibit 
itself under a more frightful aspect than this, in any part of 
Europe. 

That there are cases, nevertheless, in which it is perfectly 
right and proper for governments to impose excises, and in 
which it is the duty of the citizens to submit to them chearfully, 
cannot be doubted. And that the situation of this country, du- 
ring the late session of congress,* when the excise system was 
adopted, was such as loudly called for and justified it, is, I think, 
equally clear. The people ought to have borne a tax on births, 

* This was \vritten in 1815. 



CHAP. 74.] DECREES AND ORDER^. 419 

on funerals, on the light of heaven, or on the air they breathe, 
rather than submit to an invading enemy. And I think it was 
creditable to the nation, that congress relied so far on its patriot- 
ism as to risk their popularity on a system so obnoxious, which 
nothing but dire necessity could justify. 

But when peace was restored — when the merest sciolist in 
political economy must have been perfectly satisfied, that the 
impost would be amply adequate to meet all the regular de- 
mands of the government — it was a most unpardonable sin of 
the democratic majority not to repeal this most odious of all 
the odious forms of taxation. To continue the domiciliary 
visits of excisemen — and all the revolting detail of this system, 
when there was so obviously no necessity for it, and when it 
could have been repealed without any possible disadvantage, 
was a gross dereliction of duty on the part of the thirteenth 
congress — a disregard of the feelings and just claims of a large 
portion of their fellow citizens, that cannot fail to insure them 
the most unqualified censure of their constituents. And there 
is no doubt that they had political sins enough to answer for 
without this addition to the catalogue. 

IX. 

French Decrees — English Orders in Council. 

I have already, several times, incidentally touched on thesis 
measures in the course of this work. But I cannot resist the 
t-emptation once more to raise my feeble voice against them in 
these few concluding observations. 

The whole history of the world may be ransacked in vain to 
find any parallel to these barefaced violations of the law of na- 
tions. Alone they would be sufficient to stamp the era through 
which we have passed with disgrace and dishonour. 

Two great nations — or rather the governments of two great 
nations — strain every nerve for mutual destruction. For the 
attainment of this object, there is a most wanton and prodigal 
sacrifice made of human life and human happiness. Yet in the 
midst of this frightful devastation, they most perfectly accord 
on one point, which is, to depredate on the property of unof- 
fending and unprotected neutrals — or, in terms of the Boston 
merchants — " to prey" — yes it is, " to prey upon the unprotect- 
ed property of a friendly pQTver y 

This, as I have already stated five or six times, is the language 
of the merchants of Boston, signed by their committee, James 
Lloyd, George Cabot, David Green, Arnold Welles, John 
Coffin Jones, and T. H. Perkins. If it be offensive, let these 
gentlemen answer for the offence. 

^ What is the meaning of " to prey P" Dr. Johnson, who is in- 
disputable lexicographical authority — tells the world — that — ■ 
" to prey," is neither more nor less than " to plunder — to roh^'' 



420 



POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 74. 



Thus it appears, that the whole body of merchants of the 
town of Boston, in 1806, publicly accused the British govern- 
ment of " plundering and robbing" " the unprotected property 
of a friendly power." And no man will pretend to deny that 
the " decrees" were of an equally " preying'' character. 

And what was the palliation of this preying system ? France 
constantly and earnestly protested, that England had begun the 
trade oi '■*■ preyiiig,'" and that she had only followed her example. 
England, with equal vehemence, asseverated that the '■'• preying'^ 
had begun on the other side of the channel. And on this mi- 
serable, contemptible pretence, they '■''preyed'^ upon American 
property between them, to the amount of probably thirty mil- 
lions of dollars. In a word, it appears that both parties regarded 
us as unable to protect ourselves, and therefore that our com- 
merce was lawful " prey^'' to avail myself once more of the 
phraseology of Mr. Lloyd and his friends. 

It might be thought impossible to add a shade to this odious 
aystem. But this is an error. The last stroke of the pencil is 
wanted. While each of these nations '■'■preyed'''' upon the lawful 
commerce of the United States with her enemy, they carried 
on, in the midst of a raging and devouring war, a traffic with 
each other, erected on the basis of fraud and perjury, a conside- 
rable portion of the materials of which traffic arose from the 
American property " preyed'''' upon by their cruisers ! ! ! ! ! 

The New-York merchants prefer an accusation against the 
orders in council, full as strong in substance—- but not quite so ex- 
plicit in style as their Boston brethren. They state that '' hav- 
ing totally suppressed the external commerce of her enemies^ 
Great Britain is counselled to appropriate to herself that of 
her friends.'" The term " appropriate^"" is rather more Chester- 
fieldian, than '■'■ prey.^'> But it is, after all, the same dish, a little 
more nicely garnished. The privateersman who '■'■preyed'''' vipon 
the " unprotected property of a friendly poioer'*'' merely " ap- 
propriated'''' that property to himself. 

That in the whole world a single man, who did not profit by 
this system, should be found to justify, or even palliate it, is 
amazing beyond expression. But that American merchants, 
whose vital interests and whose country's dearest rights it cut 
up root and branch, should have taken this ground, as we know 
they have done, will to our posterity appear as fabulous and as 
romantic as the celebrated story of Don Bellianis of Greece-— 
the renowned history of Parismus, Parismenos, and Parismeni- 
des — or the delectable tales of Aladdin's wonderful lamp, and 
Sinbad the Sailor, 

It will be asked, why discuss this subject now? What purpose 
can it answer, but to anger and to irritate — to prevent the 



OHAP. 75.] DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 421 

wounds received and given from cicatrizing ? Ought not these 
topics to be buried in eternal oblivion i Can this be a proper 
time for such enquiries ? I answer, this is the time — the only- 
time. What purpose would the discussion have answered, dur- 
ing the violence and turbulence of war I A period of peace is 
precisely the time to investigate the question, all important to 
the United States, whether the rights of neutral nations are to 
be held by the tenure of the forbearance, the moderation, the 
justice, the generosity of belligerents — a tenure, of the precari- 
ousness whereof we have had so many admonitory examples — 
or whether the rights, the sovereignty, the trade, the commerce 
of neutral nations shall be treated by belligerents with the re- 
spect to which they are entitled. This is a glorious theme for 
enlightened men on both sides of the Atlantic — worthy of a 
Milton, a Grotius, a PufFendorif — of a Henry, a Dickinson, or 
a Franklin. 

CHAPTER LXXV. 

Separation of the States. Civil War, Cronvwelism, 

Throughout this work, I have repeatedly expressed a be- 
lief, that we were of late in danger of a civil war. In fact, to 
that idea the work owes its existence. Such a stimulus as the 
apprehension of that hideous result was necessary to force me 
on the undertaking. 

In this opinion I stand almost alone. Both federalists and 
democrats utterly disbelieve it. Many scout it as utterly ro- 
mantic, and regard it as almost a sufficient proof of insanity. 

I shall attempt to convince every dispassionate reader that 
this opinion, although entertained by a very small minority, 
stands upon impregnable ground. 

I shall take the liberty to assume, as a datum on which to rea- 
son, that during external warfare, and in the inflamed state of 
the public mind that lately existed, a separation of the states, or 
a forcible expulsion of the public functionaries from their official 
stations, would have produced civil war. Those who are not 
disposed to concede me this point, may pass over this chapter; 
as it is not intended for their perusal. 

I shall, I trust, accomplish my object, by establishing beyond 
the possibility of doubt or denial, that there was a fixed deter- 
mination among a considerable number of the leading men in 
the eastern states, and some elsewhere, who were blindly fol- 
lowed by a great portion of the cominunity in that quarter, and 
by many in the other states, to dissolve the union — and that 
there was likewise as fixed a determination in the middle states, 
to coerce the executive officers to resign their stations. 

The necessity and the advantages of a dissolution of the union 
were as openly and as explicitly advocated in the Centinel, the 
O. B. 55 



432 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 75. 

Repertor}-, and the Boston Gazette, and in the sermons of the 
reverend Messrs. Gardiner, Osgood, and Parish, more particu- 
larly the latter, as if the measure were not merely perfectly 
harmless, but legal and laudable. 

To reconcile the public mind to that most nefarious of pro- 
jects, the existing evils were exaggerated by every possible 
means. The persons who planned a separation, had treasonably 
destroyed the public credit; as far as in their power prevented 
the raising of troops ; threw every difficulty in the way of the 
prosecution of the war; and then grounded their plea of the 
necessity of a separation, on the incapacity and imbecility of an 
executive, whose every effort they iiad thwarted and trammel- 
led. It is difficult to conceive of a course of conduct more un- 
fair or disingenuous. 

While they were thus unceasing in their efforts to accomplish 
the grand object of a separation, they hypocritically affected 
deep regret at the cruel necessity that was imposed on them. 

" Those who startle at the danger of a SEPARATION, teU us, that the soil 
<of New England is hard and sterile ; that, deprived of the productions of the 
south, we should soon become a wretched race of cowhei-ds and fishermen ; 
that our narrow territory and diminished population would make us an easy 
prey to foreign powers. 

" Do these men forget what national energy can do for a people ? Have 
they not read of Holland ? Do they not remember that it grew in wealth and 
power amidst contest and alarm ? Tliat it threw off the yoke of Spain (our 
Virginia) and its chapels became churches, and its poor men's cottages princes* 
palaces." Boston Centinel, Dec. 10, 1814. 

" It is said, that to make a treaty of commerce with the enemy is to violate 
the constitution, and to never Hie union. ARE THEY NOT BOTH ALREADY 
VIRTUALLY DESTROYED ? Or in what stage of existence would they be, 
slionld we declare a neuiralitij, or even withliold taxes or men ?" Idem, Dec. 17, 
1814. 

" By a commercial treaty tvith England, which shall provide for the admission 
of such states as may wish to come into it, and wliich shall prohibit England 
from making a treaty with the south and west, which does not grant us at least 
equal privileges with iierself, our commerce will be secured to us ; our stand- 
ing in the nation raised to its proper level ; and New England feelings will no 
longer be sported with, or her interests violated." Ibid. 

" Tf we submit quietly, onr destruction is certain. If we oppose tliem with a 
liigli-minded and steady conduct, who will say that we shall not beat them 
BACK. ? No one can suppose that a conjiict -ivith a tyranny at home, would be as 
easy as with an enemy from abroad. But firmness will anticipate and prevent 
it. ' Cowardice dreads it — and will surely bring it on at last. fVhy then delay ? 
"Why leave that to chance which firmness should command;' Will our waver- 
ing frighten government into compliance !" Ibid. 

" We must do it deliberately — and not from irritation at our wrongs or suf- 
ferings, ./hid -when toe liuve once entered on the high course of honour flHc/ INDE- 
PENDENCE, let 710 difficulties stay our course, nor dangers drive us back." Ibid. 

" We are convinced that the time is arrived, when Massachusetts must make 
a resolute stand, and " recurring to first principles,'" view men and things as 
they are. The sophisticated government which these states have witnessed for 
thirteen years past, has almost completed their ruin — and every day still adds 
to their distressed condition," Ipswich memorial, Sept. 1813. 



CHAP. 75.] DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION 423 

*'The sentiment is hourly extending, and, in these noithern states, will 
soon be universal, that we are in no better condition with respect to thg south, 
tha.nthsito{ a conquered people." Boston Centinel, Jan. 13, 1813. 

" We have no more interest in waging this sort of war at present, at 
the command of A'irginia, than Holland in accelerating her ruin by unitingher 
destiny with France." Idem. 

« The land is literally taken from its old possessors, and given to stran- 
gers.'' Idem. 

"Either the southerii states must drag us further into the war — or we must 
drag tiiem out of it— OK THE CHAIN VviLL BREAK." Idem. 

« We must be no longer deafened by senseless clamoui's about A SEPARA- 
TION OF THE STATES." Idem. 

" Should the present administration, with their adherents in the southern 
states, still pei-sist in the prosecution of this wicked and ruinous war— in un- 
constitutionally creating Jiew states in the mud of Louisiana (the inhabitants of 
which country are as ignorant of repubhcanism as the alligators of their 
swamps) and in opposition to the commercial rights and privileges of New- 
England, much as we deprecate a separation of the union, ~we deem it an evil much 
Jess to be dreaded than a co-operation with them in these nefarious projects." 

This wretched piece of ribaldry, obser\e, reader, is not taken 
from anianonymous essay or paragraph in a newspaper. It is 
extracted from a petition deliberately debated, and adopted by 
the enlightened ^vi<\ patriotic citizens of Deerfield in Massachu- 
setts, on the 10th of January, 1814, and presented to the legis- 
lature of that state, with a host of similar ribald petitions and 
memorials, which were very kindly received by that body. 

" We must put away all childish fears oi resistance." Crisis, No. 3. 

" What sliall we do to be saved ? One thing only. THE PEOPLE MUST 
RISE IN THEIR MA.JESTY— protect themselves — and compel their unwor- 
thy servants to obey their will." Boston Centinel, Sept. 10, 1814. 

" The union is already dissolved practicalUj." Idem. 

" You ask my opinion on a subject which is much talked of— a Dissolution of 
the Union. On tliis subject I differ from my fellow-citizens generally, and 
therefore I ought to speak and write with diffidence. I liave, for many }'ears, 
considered the union of the northern and southern states as not essential to the safety, 
and verti much opposed, to the interest, of both sectiom. The extent of territory is 
too large to be harmoniously governed by the same representative body. A 
despotic prince, like the emperor of Russia, may govern a wide extent of ter- 
ritory, and numerous distinct nations ; for his will controuls their jealousies and 
discordant interests. But when states, having different interests, are permitted 
to decide on those interests themselves, no hannony can be expected. The 
commercial and non-commercial states have views and interests so different, 
that I conceive it to be impossible that they ever can be satisfied with the- 
same laws and the same system of measures. I firmly beUeve, that each section 
would be better satisfied to govern itself : and each is large and populous 
enough/or its own protection, especisMy as we have no poweiful nations in our 
neighbourhood. These observations are equally applicable to tlie western 
states, a large body and a distinct portion of the country, which would govern 
themselves'better than the Atlantic states can govern them, I'hat the Jtlantic 
.states do not want the aid of the strength nor the councils of the western states, 
is certain. And I believe the pubhc welfare would be better consulted, and 
more promoted, in a separate than in a fedei-1 condition. The mountains foi-m 
a natural line of division : and moral and commercial habits would unite the 
western people. In like manner, the moral and commercial habits of the 
northern aj\d middle states would link them, together j as would the Uke ha- 



424 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 75- 

bits of the slave-holding' states. Indeed, the attempt to tmite this vast territory 
under one head has long appeared to me absurd. I believe a peaceable separation 
would be for the happiness of all sections." Boston Centinel, July 18th, 1812. 

After this insidious and seditious address, the writer, in or- 
der to shelter himself from the public detestation, adds the fol- 
lowing feeble salvo : 

" But, as the citizens of this country have generally been of a different opi- 
nion, it is best not to ui'g'e for a separation, till they are convinced of their er- 
ror." 

♦' We will ask the infatuated men of property, beguiled by the arts of Albert 
Gallatin, by what fund, and by whom, they will be repaid the advances made 
on exchequer bills and the loans, in the event of A DISSOLUTION OF THE 
UNJOIN ? We ask them further, whether from present appearances, and un- 
der existing circumstances, there is the least foundation to build a hope that 
THE UNION WILL LAST TWELVE MONTHS ? We look to Russia to save 
us fi-om the horrors of anarchv. If a reverse of fortune is in reserve for Alexan- 
der, and the war continues, THE UNION IS INEVITABLY GONE." 

Federal Republican. 

Extract from an address to the Hartford Convention. 

"The once venerable constitution has expired by dissolution in the hands of those 
wicked men who were sworn to pi-otect it. Its spirit, with the precious soids 
■of its firet founders, has fled forever. Its remajns, with theirs, rest in the 
silent tomb At your hands, therefore, WE DEMAND DELIVERANCE. 
New England is unanimous. And we announce our irrevocable decree, that 
the tyraiuiical oppression of those who at present usurp the potuers of the consti- 
tution, is beyond endurance. AND WE WILL RESIST IT." Boston Centi- 
nel, Dec. 28, 1814. 

" Long enough have we grasped at shadows and illusions, and been compel- 
led to recoil upon ourselves, and feel the stings of real, substantial, hopeless 
woe, sharpened by disappointment. Long enough have we paid the taxes and 
fought the battles of the .southern states. Long enough have we been scouted, 
abused and oppressed, by men who claim a right to rule and despise us. 
Long enough have -we been the submissive slaves of the senseless representatives of 
the equally senseless 7iatives of Africa, and of the semi-barbarous huntsmen of the 
western wilderness, liealitics alone can work our deliverance. And deliver- 
ance we deliberatehf, solemnly, and irrevocably decree to be our right. AND WE 
WILL OBTAIN IT." Idem, Dec. 24, 1814. 

♦' The sufferings wliich have multiplied so thick about us, have at length 
aroused New England. She will now meet every danger, and go through 
f very difficulty, until her rights are restored to the full — and settled too 
strongh' to be sliaken. She will put aside all half-way measures. She will look 
with : 'ye of doubt on those who propose them. She will tell .such men, 
that i y hope to lead in the cause of NEW ENGLAND INDEPENDENCE, 
the\ must do it in the spirit of New England men." Idem, Dec. 7, 1814. 

" Throwing off all connection with this wasteful war — making peace with 
the enemy — and opening once more our commerce, would be a wise and 
manly course." Idem, Dec. 17, 1814. 

" My ])lan is to withhold our money, and make a separate peace with Eng- 
land." Boston Daily Advertiser. 

*' That there will be a revolution, if the war continues many months, no man 
can doubt, who is acquainted with human nature, and is accustomed to study 
cause and effct. The eastern states are inarching .Readily and straight fo7~uard 
■up to the object. In times past, there was much talk, and loud menaces, but lit- 
tlp action^ among the friends of reform in New England. Now we shall hear 



f HAP. 75.] DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 425 

little said and much done. The 7iew constitution is to go into operation as soon 
as two or three states shall have adopted it." Federal Republican. 

On the 5th of January, 1815, a seditious, I might say a trea- 
sonable, meeting, was held at Reading, in Massachusetts, at 
which a number of inflammatory resolutions were passed, of 
which the climax was capped by the following : 

" Resolved, That we place the fullest confidence in the governor and legis- 
lature of Massachusetts, and in the state authorities of New Eng-land ; and that 
to them under God, the chief governor of the universe, we look for aid and di- 
rection ; and that for the present, until the public opinion shall be known, ive 
will not enter our carriages, FAVOUR C OJYTIjYEJVTAL TAXES, or aid, in- 
form, or assist aJiy officer in their collection." 

Extracts from a memorial of the citizens of Newbiiryport., Jan. 
31, 1814, addressed to the legislature of Massachusetts. 

" In this alarming state of things, we can no longer be silent. When our 
unquestionable rights are invaded, we will not sit down and coolly calculate 
what it may. cost us to defend them. We will not barter the liberties of our 
children for slavish repose — nor surrender our birthright but with our hves. 

" We remember the resistance of our fatlicrs to oppressions, which dwindle 
into insignificance, when compared with those we are called upon to endure. 
The rights "which we have received from God, we will never yield to man." 
We call upon our state legislature to protect us in the enjoyment of those pri- 
vileges, to assert which our fathers died ; and to defend which we profess our- 
selves READY TO RESIST UNTO BLOOD. We pray your honourable body 
to adopt measiu-es immediately to secure to us especially our undoubted right 
to trade within our own state. 

"We are ourselves ready to aid you in securing it to us, to the utmost of our 
power, " peaceably if we can — forcibly if we must." And we pledge to you 
t}ie sacrifice of our lives and property in support of whatever measures the dig- 
nity and liberties of tliis free, sovereign, and independent state may seem to 
your wisdom to demand." 

To what a most awful extent must the violence and delusion 
of faction have been carried, when " resistance unto hlood^'' was 
regularly voted in a town meeting, in an enlightened state — and 
among people of high standing and respectability ! It is impos- 
sible for any man of clear head and sound heart to peruse these 
profligate paragraphs without the utmost abhorrence. 

I trust that no tnan possessed of reason or common sense, who 
attentively reads the preceding extracts, and the sacrilegious calls; 
upon " Moses and Aaron," in chapter 56, will for a moment 
doubt that there was a deep, a dangerous, an audacious, and a 
treasonable conspiracy to dissolve the union. We can never be 
sufficiently grateful to Heaven for our preservation from this 
horrible catastrophe. 

There are three circumstances connected with this affair^ 
which are entitled to a most serious consideration. Without 
bearing them duly in mind, it is impossible to estimate accurate- 
ly the extent of our obligations to Heaven, or the depth of the 
gulph of perdition that yawned to swallow us up. 

The first is, that the sermons from which I have given the 
hideous extracts, in chapter 56, were preached to large and res- 



426 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. tS. 

pectable congregations — met with their decided approbation— 
and were generally published at their request. 

The second is, that the Boston Centinel, from which I have 
made most of the seditious and treasonable extracts in the pre- 
ceding pages, enjoys as great a share of public patronage, and 
possesses as decided an influence, probably, as any newspaper in 
the United States. I have been assured, and I am inclined to 
believe the assurance, that it has 6000 subscribers. From these 
two facts some idea may be formed of the lamentable extent to 
which the contamination of the political leprosy of disaffection 
and treason had spread throughout the eastern states. 

The third circumstance that I wish impressed on the mind of 
the reader who considers this subject, is, that during the time 
when a large portion of this seditious and Jacobinical matter was 
publishing, negociations for peace were pending. 

I now undertake to prove that there was another project form- 
ed by persons who did not probably wish to dissolve the union, 
but whose object was to Cromwelize the public functionaries. 
The " Elba toast" — and " the halter" of Mr. Cyrus King, throw 
some light on this scheme. 

To facilitate this object, there was a decided effort made by 
many of the editors of newspapers, to persuade the federalists, 
that the war having been declared by the democrats, they ought 
not to call upon their opponents for aid — who, on their side, 
ought to affbrd none. And this abominable doctrine was preach- 
ed when the enemy was at the door, and when, but for the in- 
tervention of Heaven, he would have had us almost entirely at 
his mercy. But, at such a crisis, so violent was the lust of 
power — and so utter the disregard of the public welfare, that the 
perdition of the country would have been preferred to a failure 
of the object in view. 

" Our whole maritime frontier is threatened by a force which the democrats 
themselves say, we are utterly incompetent to resist. In this situation we now 
find ourselves, with an administration acknowledged by its own fi'iends to be 
incapable of prosecuting tlie war with any chance of success, and with the 
scattered remnant of an army, M'hicli has lost all confidence in the ability of its 
commanders. .Ind in Ihis sititation we are railed vpoii to miite, to briiig forth all 
the resources of the nation — and to place them at the disposal of those very men 
who have already uselessly squandered so large a portion of the strength and 
yesoui-ces of the country; and have derived from them nothing but the scorn 
of their enemies, and the contempt of their friends. Can any thing be more 
preposteroui: ! The tvar has hitherto been the ivar of a party. Let it so contimie — 
and so be terminated. 

"The disgrace will then continue to be the disgrace of the party, and not 
of the nation — " a consummation devoutly to be wished." Let those -who have 
hitherto abstained from supporting the ivar, still abstain — and thereby preser-ve the 
konour, and, so far as tlie.y still remain, the resources of the country, FOR THE 
EVENTS WHICH ARE TO FOLLOW." Gazette of the United States, July 
1, 1814. 

These paragraphs affbrd sufficient text for a folio volume. But 
I shall limit my remarks to a few lines. They appeared in the 



cnxF.75.] DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 427 

city of Philadelphia, about seyen weeks before the Vandalic de- 
struction of the public buildings at Washington — at a period 
when the enemy was collecting a force which might have Co- 
penhagenized the city wherein the editor lived. And at such a 
time, when every honourable motive, public and private, impe- 
riously called for a general union of all parties in the holy cause 
of defending a blessed country, goaded into war by nineteen 
years of unceasing outrage and depredation, in defence of its 
honour — its independence — in defence of its citizens stolen on 
the highway of nations — and scourged to fight, and slaughtered 
in fighting, the battles of their enslavers — in the midst of this 
state of things, with all the horrors of subjugation staring us in 
the face, a respectable party is called upon " to contimie to ab- 
stain from supporting such a xvar'''' — and for what? Why, " to 
preserve the honour of the nation ! ! ! ! ."' Never, never, never, 
in all the hideous annals of mankind, was there a greater instance 
of delusion. 

" To preserve the honour of the nation^'' — ^by enabling an in- 
furiated enemy to spread devastation in every direction — to 
Hamptonize our wives, our sisters, and our daughtei^s ! — and to 
dictate the terms of submission, of colonization, if they should 
judge proper, at the point of the bayonet — to beaiity-and-booty 
our proud cities — our New-Yorks, our Philadelphias, and our 
Baltinores ! ! I can no more. I must quit the contemplation. 
Let the reader pass the awful sentence of condemnation. 

" The war is purely democratic. It was undertaken for democratic and not 
fornational purposes ; and h.is been prosecuted with democratic success. Let 
the democrats, therefore, terminate it in the best manner they can. We have no 
partnership in the matter. If they can make a good and honourable peace, 
let them have the credit of it. And if they sacrifice the interest and honour 
of the country, as we have always believed they would, the country must take 
up the cause as a national and not a party concern : and should a war become 
necessary, in vindication of national rights, it will be another kind of war than 
this has been." Gazette of the United States, June 25, 1814. 

" We say again, let the democrats terminate their ridicidovs xvar in the best -way 
they can ,• and if, in doing so, they surrender any of our essential riglits, the 
nation will employ competent men for the recovery of them. It itmdd be -uorse 
than useless, after the experience we have had, to enter into partnership -nth the pre- 
sent conductors of affairs, in supporting any rights whatever BY FORCE OF 
ARMS." Ibid. 

" THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION MUST BE GOT RID OF, or the 

nation is inevitably ruined. To talk of united efforts, as some good men have done, 
■while they continue in power, is to talk of what cannot possibly happen. The men 
of virtue, wisdom, and talents, are ready to unite ; and always were, and al- 
ways will be ready to unite their efforts in the cause of their country, and to 
yield up their purses and persons for its service — pi'ovided tliey can be 
placed at the disposal of men in whose integrity and ability they can place re- 
liance." Idem, Oct. 14, 1814. 

" No alternative is left us but to resist with energj^ or to submit with dis- 
grace. As the latter is not posslbleto Americans, we must prepare our minds 
for an extremely long, arduous, and sanguinary war. One part of the prepa- 



438 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 75 

ration "must be, the expulsion, by some modification of our constitutional means, of 
the faction tliat has brought the nation to this at bestpei^ilous condition." Idem. 

" New Eng-land must require that those men who have degraded the coun- 
try they liave so long misruled, should be dismissed, OH FORCED TO RESIGN." 
Boston Centinel, Dec. lU, iyi4. 

" If James Madison is to command the force destined to subjugate the east- 
ern states, we would suggest to his excellency a most salutary caution — it is, 
tliat he should pi'ovide himself with a horse swifter footed by far, than that 
which carried tiim so gallantly from the invaders of Washington. He must be 
able to escape at a greatt-r rate than forty miles a dav, or-the swift vengeance 
of A'eiv Englaiid will overtake THE WRETCHED "MISCREANT IN HIS 
FLIGHT !!!!!" 

This last abominable paragraph was published in the Merri- 
mack Intelligencer, and transferred from thence into the Boston 
Gazette, of Jan. 5, 1815, published by Russel and Cutler, and 
enjoying a very high degree of public patronage. It is hardly 
possible to produce a greater outrage upon decency, decorum, 
or propriety. 

While these laboured efforts were employed to excite the 
citizens to Cromwelize the administration, by displacing the 
public functionaries, the same language was held in the London 
papers, under the patronage of the British government — and it 
was even announced in parliament, that all that remained to be 
done, Bonaparte being banished, was to ptit down James Madi- 
son. And all the menaces of this kind were copied without the 
least disapprobation into the most violent federal papers. Of 
this I annex a specimen — 

" In England every thing was festivity, exultation, and prosperity, as re- 
garded their European prospects. But with respect to America, the language 
of all ranks appeared angry, bitter, and threatening. The papers asserted, 
that large reinforcements would be sent out, and the war continued with the 
utmost energy. But the papers which use this language say, their late cry of 
" Peace -with Fraiice, but do7v?iwith the Bonapartists" must be kept up with tlie 
alteration, " Peace ivith America, but down ivith the Madisons" It is the opinion 
of wll-infjrmed Americans in England, that the government woidd not dare to make 
peace with the American admiidstration, for fear of the resent7nent of the people. 
W( think the administration have advices to this effect in Waslungton." Boston 
Centinel, June, 8, 1814. 

To such a deplorable length had faction and treason proceed- 
ed, that had the Prince Regent declared that he would make no 
peace with this country unless it changed its highest public func- 
tionaries, there were, we see, native Americans to be found, pre- 
pared to submit to the dictation of a foreign prince ! And in 
fact, many of the paragraphs published on this side of the Atlan- 
tic, appeared to invite this dictation ; and, as I have already 
stated, to hold out the idea that the British government would 
disgrace itself, if it made a treaty with the United States with- 
out a change of our rulers. 

" If the American people were not the most tame, amiable, good-natured 
race of men that ever lived, th& president woiUd have been hissed out of office, if 



CHAr. 75.] DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 429 

not PELTED OUT WITH STONES, the first day congress assembled after 
the fljght and conflagration." Federal Republican, Jan. 31, 1815. 

" These men must be set aside — must be got rid of, or there can be, in the na- 
ture of things, no lasting benefits resulting from the abandonment of their 
rumous courses, which is intended to be only temporary. Like the North ad- 
ministration, theij must be put down, to rise no more.**" Boim, doivn, -with these 
detested, exposed, self-confessed. No matter who succeeds them. In the nature 
of thmgs, we cannot err— we cannot be worsted in the choice of successors.*** 
A change of dynasty is as necessary to our prosperity as it may now be to the 
repose and security of France, Bown irith the Deists, the Modern Philosophers 
and Empirics .'" Federal RepubUcan, April 9, 1814. ' 

I shall terminate this subject with introducing to the reader, 
a personage who has played a conspicuous part in the eastern 
drama of disaffection and sedition. James Lloyd was one of 
the committee of merchants who, in 1806, loudly called on the 
government to resist the depredations of Great Britain, which 
he and they publicly charged with " robbery^'' i. e. with ^'- prey- 
ing upon the commerce of a friendly neutral power.'' With 
them he pledged himself to support the government in the at- 
tempt. And with them he never redeemed that pledge ; for he 
concurred with them to embarrass and defeat every measure 
adopted for the purpose of procuring redress. To this gentle- 
man, as a conspicuous eastern character, Mr. John Randolph, of 
Roanoke, addressed a long, expostulatory letter, on the seditious 
proceedings of the eastern section of the union. To this letter 
Mr. Lloyd made a prolix reply, the jet of which was (a very 
modest proposition, to serve as the basis of conciliating this 
gendeman and his friends) to '-'■ coerce Mr. Madison and his itn- 
vied'tate dependants to retire from office^ and to elect Mr. King 
or Judge Marshall in his stead." These were the exact words 
of this admirer of Gen. Washington, whose immortal legacy- 
denounced, in the strongest language, all " attempts to overawe 
or controul the constituted authorities." 

I think no candid man will now deny that our danger was 
very considerable. Lest, however, there should remain any- 
thing to hang a doubt upon, I shall state two analogous cases, to 
prove my position. 

France,., under the princes of the house of Valois, was for 
about thirty yeai's a scene of the most horrible devastation. 
Civil war pervaded the whole nation. Myriads of human be- 
ings were immolated. Rivers of blood were shed. Towns and 
cities were sacked and conflagrated. The aged matron equally 
with the pure, immaculate virgin, fell a prey to the lust of a fe- 
rocious and brutal soldiery. The new-born infant — the manly 
father — the hoary-headed grandsire — were slaughtered with a 
demoniac fury. In a word, that earthly paradise was made a 
suitable habitation for demons incarnate. 

These horrible scenes, at which the furies exult, and over 
which humanity sheds the scalding tear, arose from a circum= 
O. B. 56 



430 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 76. 

Stance apparently trivial, and which, had not the public mind 
been highly excited, would have passed over without the shed- 
ding of a drop of blood. 

A deadly, rancorous hostility had been excited between the two 
parties, the Bourbons and the Guises — precisely such as existed 
in various parts of the United States lately, and as was daily 
fanned by inflammatory newspapers. The duke of Guise was 
on his journey to Paris, and stopped at a small town, called 
Vassy, on a Sunday morning. The Hugonots were assembled 
at church. The duke's retinue went to their place of worship, 
and offered some insult to the congregation. The latter picked 
up stones, and threw at them. They, in return, had recourse to 
their arms — fired on the crowd — killed above sixty, and wound- 
ed a number of others.* 

From this single spark proceeded the conflagration which, as 
I have stated, raged for thirty years with such destructive fury. 

This example, strong and striking, and highly applicable to 
our situation, ought to make a lasting impression upon ail good 
men. It evinces the depth of the yawning vortex into which 
ive were precipitously falling. 

I shall trespass on the reader with one more example of a 
bloody civil war, excited by a still more trivial circumstance. 
A Florentine lady was betrothed to a nobleman of distinction, 
who, a short time pi-evious to the marriage, was captivated with 
the beauty of another lady, whom he married. The relations 
and friends of the slighted lady, in order to be avenged of the 
affront, assassinated the bridegroom. His friends took up arms 
to be avenged for his death. And hence Florence was torn in 
pieces for a long series of years by the hostile factions of the 
Guelphs and Gibbelines, who butchered each other as they re- 
spectively acquired the ascendancy.j 

History is replete with instances of an analogous character. 

CHAPTER LXXVI. 

Abuse of the freedom of the press. Attacks on monarchs and 

nations of Europe. 

The press is a formidable instrument — capable of producing 
the very best as well as the very worst effects on society. When 
employed to illuminate a nation — to guard its rights — to aid the 
cause of virtue — it is of inestimable value — and cannot be too 
highly prized. But when employed to delude — to deceive — 
to excite a demoniacal spirit of hostility in a community — to 

* Davila's History of the Civil Wars of France, London Edition, 1769, vol. I. 
p. 96—7. 

I Macliiavel's History of Florence, book 2. page 7. 



cnxp. 760 FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 431 

prepare the way for treason, rebellion, and civil war, as we have 
recently witnessed, it is among the greatest scourges of man- 
kind. 

It is a melancholy truth, that the most fatal errors prevail on 
this vital subject ; and numberless instances are on record, of 
jurors violating every dictate of justice and honour, as well as 
their solemn oaths, in order to shelter offenders, who, under the 
cloke of the liberty, have exercised the utmost licentiousness of 
the press. 

It is a fertile topic, and demands the investigation of enlight- 
ened men, zealous to promote the public good. To them I shall 
leave the various details, and shall respectfully offer a few re- 
marks on one particular point. 

The style which our newspaper writers use in their lucubra- 
tions on the conduct and character of the crowned heads of Eu- 
rope, is too frequently gross and offensive, — equally repugnant 
to good taste and decency. They are not unfrequently styled 
" crowned rufhans ;" and other terms, equally indecent, are ap- 
plied to them. This is highly impolitic. It has a tendency to 
embroil us with the whole class of monarchs, and may, in its 
consequences, involve us in destructive wars. 

There are already ample causes of jealousy towards us among 
the monarchs of Europe, in the example our nation affords, of 
the glorious results of self-government. It is a standing re- 
proach to monarchy, and many of the sceptered race must re- 
gard themselves as unsafe while our liberties exist. What 
madness then must it be to search for additional causes of irri- 
tation and hostility ! 

Suppose all the monarchs and the royal families in Europe 
were worthless — suppose the males profligate and abandoned, 
and the females prostitute — is that any concern of ours ? Let 
us leave them to themselves. We are not answerable for their 
guilt or their folly. We have folly and guilt enough of our own 
to answer for. It was a wise admonition — " Let him that is 
without sin, throw the first stone." And if a little attention 
were paid to this sacred rule, the monarchs of Europe would 
have escaped a large portion of the abuse that has been lavished 
upon them. 

But many of our newspaper editors not satisfied with their un- 
ceasing revilings of the monarchs, display their virulence against 
entire nations, which are frequently overwhelmed with scurrili- 
ty and abuse. 

The vials of wrath and indignation are poured forth on the 
French, and the English, and sometimes on the Spaniards. 
Many of the federal printers are unceasing in their ribald abuse 
of the French. And the democratic printers, in order to balance 
the. account, equally villify the English, 



432 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 76. 

The injustice and folly of stigmatizing whole nations indis- 
criminately, are evident on a moment's reflection. It is hardly 
possible to find a more complete proof of a shallow mind, or a 
rancorous heart. Every nation has its bright as wcdl as its dark 
side. It is the law of our nature. And to humble and morti- 
fy American vanity and pride, there is not a civilized nation 
perhaps in the world that is not superior to us in some point of 
view. Will any inan, not deservang of a straight waistcoat, 
pretend for a moment to compare the American people with the 
French, in point of politeness, urbanity, and mildness, or a deli- 
cate regard for the feelings of those with whom they have in- 
tercourse — qualities, which, more than any other, soften and re- 
move so much of the asperities and discomforts of life ?* or will 
he pretend to compare us, as a people, for solid, substantial cha- 
rity, for munificence, or public spirit with the English ?f or, as 
a people for sobriety, industry, and economy, with the Scotch ?:}: 
or for strong feeling, and ardent, zealous attachment with the 
Irish ?§ I believe not. 

That on " a view of the whole ground," we will stand a com- 
parison with any or all of these nations, I freely admit. But we 
are really far indeed from perfection. And considering the 

* A man of keen sensibility who has any defect in his person, his address, 
his manners, or his languag-e, will have his feeling-s more frequently outraged 
in one week in Philadelphia, New York, or Baltimore, than in seven years in 
Paris. 

f I need not tell the reader that I am no admirer of the British government. 
He has long since made the discovery. Its tyranny over tl^e coimtry of my 
birth, and its outrages upon tlie country of my adoption, sufficiently justify my 
strong and extreme dislike to it. But tlie British nation maintains, in some 
points of view, a proud pre-eminence over most of the other nations of the 
globe. And in none does it stand higher tlian in mvuiificence or public spirit. 
For any great public object, for the relief of extraordinary distress, or for the 
remuneration of great pul)lic services, London is, I believe, the first city in the 
world. It will be said, as it has frequently been, that there is an extreme dif- 
ference between the wealth of London, and that of Pliiladelphia, New York, 
Boston, or Baltimore. Tiiis is a shallow defence, and will not bear examina- 
tion. There arc in those four cities hundreds of persons, e^ch of whose for- 
tunes exceeds half a million of dollars, some without a child to inherit their 
property, and not one of whom has ever performed a signal act of munificence 
— ever laid claim to the praises of his cotemporaries or posterity for liberality. 
Many of them are as hard, as griping', and as unfeeling, as they were when 
they originally laid the foundation, on a small beginning-, of the immense for- 
tunes with which, had they public sjiirit, they mig'ht immortalize themselves. 
The bane of this country is a sordid thirst of wealth. This vile passion, when 
it once gains full possession, never loses its grasp. It swallows up all that ren- 
ders man estimable. 

A great nuinluxr of the hospitals and other public charities in London, were 
founded by individuals, whose names they bear. We are most lamentably de- 
ficient in such instances of munificence. 

t There is more dissipation and idleness in some of our small towns, which 
shall be nameless, than in a whole Scotch shire. 

§ 1 might offer some strong comparisons here, but 1 forbear. The reader will 
cogitate on the subject, and supply them himself 



CHAP. 76.] FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 433 

immense advantages we enjoy, and the opportunity we have had 
of rendering our institutions as nearly perfect as is attainable in 
this sublunary sphere, we have reason to feel ashamed that so 
much imperfection remains in our political systems, in our ju- 
risprudence, and in our regulations of property. 

A respectable newspaper, edited by men of talents, and in ge- 
neral of sound judgment, lately sullied its reputation by a gross 
statement of the tragical end of the illustrious Forlier, worthy 
of a nobler fate. It was stated that " the beastly Spmiiards^'' had 
trailed him through the streets to be pelted by the mob ; thus 
stigmatizing a whole nation for the brutality of a ferocious few. 
What immense injustice ! 

Every one who reflects for a moment must admit that it fre- 
quently happens that a small portion of the inhabitants of a 
town or city are guilty of enormities at which the residue shud- 
der, and which they abhor and detest. The horrible scenes of 
the Septembrization in Paris, over which outraged humanity 
sighs and laments, were perpetrated by less than a sixtieth part 
of the popvilation of that city ; and the mass of the remainder 
were as innocent of the guilt as the people of Pekin or Canton, 
New-York or Philadelphia. It would therefore be rampant in- 
justice to charge these horrors to the account of the whole of 
the citizens of Paris. What then must be the disregard of all 
the rules of equity, to brand with infamy the whole French na- 
tion, for the wickedness of a detestable fragment of the scum of 
Paris ? 

Thus it is with the expression " the beastly Spaniards.'^'* One 
or two, or three hundred of the off-scourings of Corunna, earned 
for themselves immortal infamy by their ferocity towards the 
hero who would have delivered their nation from the most gall- 
ing shackles : and this enormity is to attach disgrace to a nation 
which cherished the sacred flame of liberty when it was almost 
uttei-ly extinguished throughout the rest of Europe — a nation 
which has been long pressed down by the most galling yoke of 
tyranny, and is entitled to our sincere commiseration ! 

Besides these three nations, we have contrived to exasperate 
most of the others, by scurrilous attacks on their kings. Except 
among a people divided by faction and party rage, each indivi- 
dual generally identifies the honour of his rulers with his own. 
He regards insults and outrages offered to them as attaching dis- 
grace to himself. 

There is no mode of testing the correctness of our conduct to 
others, so unerring, as to place ourselves in their situation, and 
judge of the effect it would produce on us. Most of the errors 
and wickedness of mankind arise from a disregard of this rule. 

What, then, would be our feelings, if the newspapers of any 
foreign nation were filled with gross and billingsgate abuse of us? 



434 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 76, 

If for any of the excesses that take place here, we were to be 
styled " the beastly Atnericcois ?"' If our president, our congress, 
and our governors were overwhelmed with scurrility ? We 
would feel a just indignation at such indecency and vulgarity. 
What then must be the feelings of the English, the French, and 
the Spaniards, on reading, (and we may rely upon it that they do 
read,) the vile billingsgate with which our papers teem against 
them ? 

I have heard it said, that there is a wide difference between 
the two cases ; that we do not deserve such abuse ; that so great 
are the corruptions and depravity of the higher orders in Eu- 
rope, that they really deserve even worse than the abuse that is 
lavished upon them ; and much more in the same style. 

I could refer to high authority for a parable on the " beam 
and the mote," and for the folly of self-righteousness. But I 
waive this as superfluous. I will suppose for a moment that all 
the allegations are well-founded, and ask," Does that materially 
alter the case ? Does that confer on us a right to assume the rank 
of censors, and deal forth condemnation on persons at three 
thousand miles distance ? 

If the abuse be well founded, this only renders it more galling 
and irritating. Mankind can in general treat with scorn, un- 
merited calumny : but where truth points the dart, it wounds 
severely, and rankles and festers. 

We might find ourselves in a very uncomfortable situation, if 
the personages against whom this billingsgate is levelled, were 
to appeal to our courts for redress, and the decision were to be 
regulated by common law. I shall, to elucidate the matter, 
state two cases strongly in point. 

Thirty years since, her imperial majesty, the empress Catha- 
rine of Russia, was introduced to the notice of the world, in the 
London papers, in no very pleasing point of view. Some of the 
extraordinary and unprecedented arcana of her private life were 
stated without any veil or covering. Her minister applied for 
redress to the court of King's Bench. Prosecutions were un- 
dertaken against all the editors of the papers wherein the libel 
had appeared. They were all found guilty, and condemned to 
line and imprisonment. The case of one of the parties was pe- 
culiarly hard. He was an old man who held a share of a news- 
paper, but had not the least concern in the editorship. It was 
proved to the satisfaction of the court and jury, that he took no 
other part in the paper, than merely to receive or pay his quota 
of profit or loss, and even never went to the printing office where 
the paper was published. These pleas, strong and decisive as 
they were, availed him not. He underwent the severity of his 
sentence. 



CHAP. 77.] TRUE POLICY OF BRITAIN. 435 

The other is more recent, and is much better known. After 
the treaty of Amiens, Peletier, a French journalist in London, 
made very free with the character of Bonaparte, who, with a 
degree of littleness, unworthy of the character and station he 
bore, complained of the libel to the British government. A 
prosecution was ordered, which closed with the conviction of 
Peletier, who escaped punishment by the renewal of the war. 

It is most devoutly to be wished that our nev/spaper printers 
will, in their future lucubrations on foreign affairs, consult true 
taste and sound policy, when they arraign at the bar of the pub- 
lic the nations or the sovereigns of Europe. 

CHAPTER LXXVII. 

Shall we soon have another rvar P The vulnerable part of Great 
Britain. The late war. Defective legislation. American seamen. 

An idea prevails among many of our citizens, that the peace 
with England will not be of long duration — that her jealousy of, 
and hostility towards, this country, will impel her once more, 
and not at a very distant day, to hurl the gauntlet in our teeth, 
and to open wide again the temple of Janus. 

I fondly hope these anticipations are unfounded. I fondly 
hope that England will understand her true interests better — 
that she will allow us to spread the mantle of oblivion over the 
injuries we have received; and that she will cultivate our friend- 
ship by kindness and a reciprocation of the good offices and cha- 
rities of a liberal intercourse, dictated by sound policy, and her 
vital interests. The hideous wounds that om- national pride, our 
honour, our independence, and our dearest rights have received, 
deep and festering as they are, may be made to cicatrize in 
time. AYe may, and I hope will, forget that we once were foes. 
But this depends on herself entirely. This country may again 
be provoked to war. But I feel a proud and confident hope it 
will not afford just provocation for entering into " the unprofit- 
able contest who shall do the other most harm." 

In effect, were the affairs of nations conducted with even a 
moderate degree of prudence and common sense, there would 
be little reason for apprehension. But a very cursory glance at 
the history of the world, will satisfy an enquirer, that no Bed- 
lamite, confined in a cell, and cui*bed by a strait waistcoat, dis- 
plays more insanity or folly than frequently appears in the ma- 
nagement of public affairs. However lamentable, therefore, it 
might be, it would not be very astonishing, if the evil genius of 
Great Britain would impel her once more to hostilities. Should 
that event take place, it will be the most dire insanity. 

There are strong inducements for Great Britain to cultivate 
peace with this country, independent of the immensely lucrative 
commerce she carries on with us, I shall glance at a few. 



436 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 77. 

Should this book ever find its way to any man who has a voice 
in the councils of Great Britain — should my countrymen, lord 
Castlereagh or marquis Wellesley, condescend to cast an eye on 
these pages, I hope it will be strongly and indelibly impressed 
on their minds, that so surely as war takes place between the 
two countries, British commerce will suffer as much destruction 
in one year, as it'formerly suffered in half a century. One con- 
sequence of the late war into which she fatuitously goaded us, 
was, that we found the spot where she is vulnerable — and we 
have also made the all-important discovery of the most unerring 
means of annoyance. Achilles had a tender heel. He was every 
where else invulnerable. Ten Hectors, ten Sarpedons, and ten 
Troiluses, uniting their forces, could not with their javelins 
affect the apple of his eye. But a woman or a child could in- 
flict a mortal wound in the heel. 

Great Britain, in like manner, has her tender heel. That heel 
is her commerce. While this is uninterrupted, she laughs to 
scorn the efforts of her enemies. She is elsewhere invulnerable. 
Commerce furnishes her with means to subsidize one half of the 
civilized Europeans to oppress the other. 

Rome, in her proudest day of triumph and glory, had hardly 
a greater number of vassal monarchs in her train, than the world 
lately saw arrayed in arms, led by the address, or bought by the 
wealth of Great Britain. I5ut cut off her commerce, and she is 
powerless. Her resources are dried up. 

In all future wars — (should we be di'iven Into any — and I feel 
confident they will not be of our seeking) — the energies of this 
nation will not be wasted on the land. They will be spixad over 
the ocean. Our Constitutions, and our United States, and our 
Peacocks, and our Wasps, and our Hornets, and our Arguses, 
and our Enterprizes, and our Essexes, and our Comets, and our 
Armstrongs, will penetrate her bays and harbours, and sink, 
bum, and destroy her vessels in all quarters of the globe. Let 
her regard, with serious concern, the terrible devastations of 
Hull, of Decatur, of Stewart, of Bainbridge, of Rodgers, of 
Perry, of Macdonough, of Porter, of Biddle, of Lawrence, of 
Allen, of Blakely, of Warrington, of Jones, of Read, of Boyle, 
of Barney, of Champlin. And let her be assured — the solemn 
truth ought to make a lasting and indelible impression — that 
every port in the union will have its Porter, or its Perry, or its 
Macdonough, or its Biddle~each emulating the glory^^cquired 
in the late war — each sti-aining every nerve to excel his rival in 
the I'ace of avenging his country's wrongs. Insurance will again 
be as high from England to Ireland as in a French war it would 
be from England to the East Indies. 

England has been in the habit of commencing war without 
declaring it — and thus, taking her adversary unaware*, she crip- 



CHAP. 7r.] THE LATE WAR. 43? 

pies him completely. In this manner, in 1756, she issued letters 
of marque against France, which were acted upon in all quar- 
ters of the world at the same time, whereby she possessed her- 
self of many hundred vessels, and 10,000 seamen, before a hos- 
tile act was committed by France. 

She commenced war against Spain by an attack upon her fri- 
gates freighted with dollars. And for her commencement of 
hostilities with innocent, unoffending and respectable Denmark, 
I refer the reader to chapter 6 1, where he will see a hideous 
portrait, drawn by the masterly pen of Roscoe. 

To a nation, like the United States, whose commerce is spread 
over every sea and every ocean, and which, in a period of peace, 
has probably at all times above a hundred millions afloat — this 
is a subject of the'most serious and solemn consideration. Per^ 
haps a general law, for the arrestation of the persons, and se^ 
questration of the property of the subjects of any power com- 
mencing hostilities, without a formal declaration of war, might 
he considered as no improper precautionary measure. 

The late xvar. 

Among the infinite variety of circumstances, which enable us 
to look back on the late war with gratitude to Heaven, and with 
just exultation, there is one peculiarly important, to which suffi- 
cient attention has not been paid, and which highly interests the 
whole family of mankind. 

When the war began, men of sound minds, great public spi- 
rit, and deep reflection, were somewhat appalled at the fearful 
odds against us. This did not appear more manifest in any point 
than in that of commanders. Those of our enemy had all the 
advantages that long experience and great skill could afford. 
Some of them had been crowned with laurels acquired in the 
bloody fields of France, Spain, and Portugal. And in the eyes 
of the world, they appeared like so many Goliahs ready to crush 
our little Davids. 

Most of those worthies who had signalized themselves during 
the American revolution, had been mowed down by the sickle 
of Time, as the ripe wheat fails before the sickle of the reaper. 
And the hopes of the nation mainly rested on men who had 
hardly acquired the rudiments of the art of war. 

Blessed, thrice blessed, be the God of our fathers ! Public 
spirit, innate bravery, and the thirst of avenging their country's 
wrongs, supplied the place of experience and knowledge. It is 
a most delightful truth, that three-fourths of all our triumphs, 
by sea and land, have been achieved by heroes who were far be- 
low the meridian of life — some of them 24, 25, 26 or 27 years 
of age. It is impossible to appreciate this circumstance too 
O. B, 57 



438 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 77. 

highly, as it respects not merely ourselves, but our fellow men 
generally. It shows what glorious exploits may be performed 
by hardy, though inexperienced freemen, fighting pro arts et 
focis — for their fathers — their mothers — their sisters — their bro- 
thers — their wives and their children — and, in a word, for their 
beloved countiy. 

Defective legislation. 

There is one point in which the general government and most 
of the state governments are highly censurable. Amidst the im- 
mense number and variety of laws which are annually enacted, 
and under which our shelves groan, there are few whose direct 
object IS to foster and promote public spirit — or to make our 
citizens wiser or better ! 

To excite emulation by rewarding merit, and thus to foster 
and encourage virtue and talents, is equally dictated by justice 
and policy. And therefore it is difficult to express the censure 
which is due to congress for its neglect of the duty of sub- 
stantially rewarding the eminent services which so many of our 
citizens have rendered their country. It has been our great 
good fortune to have a verv numerous list of such claimants — > 
and therefore a considerable expense would be incurred to per- 
form this act of justice in a style worthy ofa great nation. But 
is it any reason why a debtor should not pay his debts, merely 
because his creditors are numerous ? Surely not. And there 
are, it is to be hoped, few men in the country so base as to 
grudge to pay their quota of this debt of gratitude. 

A?nerica}i seamen. 

Among the reasons why the claims of American seamen to 
be shielded by their country from the horrors of impressment 
should be attended to, there is one of considerable weight, 
which appears to have escaped notice. I believe our seamen, 
man for man, possess worth superior to their fellow-citizens on 
shore. In other words, that there is more sterling virtue, and 
less worthlessness among them, in proportion to their numbers, 
than is to be found on shore. 

This is high praise. It is, however, coolly and calmly pemied. 
I have, with all the impartiality and candour I can command, 
weighed the opinion over and over. And my mind is unalter- 
ably made up on the subject. Let us compai^e the commodores 
and captains, unci lieutenants, and midshipmen, with the upper 
and middle classes of society on shore — and is there a man 
whose heart beats high for the honour, the glory of our nautical 
citizens, that will shrink from the severest scrutiny. 

Of the sedition, the treason, the disaffection to their country. 



"•Jftap. 78.] CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUSES, 43» 

and adhesion to its enemies, which lately pervaded entire sec- 
tions of the union, there was not a single instance to be found 
in our glorious navy. Blake's maxim, " to defend the country, 
let who would rule," pervaded the whole, and animated them as 
with one soul. Let an American traverse the globe, and his 
cheek will never be suffused with a blush for any act of his navat 
countrymen. The most daring and intrepid courage — the most 
sublime heroism — the most exalted generosity and liberality to- 
wards their captives — have elevated them to the highest pinnacle 
of glory. 

And if the ofEcers stand thus high, are not the sailors as con- 
spicuous in their sphere ? Are they not far, very far, superior 
to men of the same grade on land ? Most undoubtedly. I hope, 
then, that their country will never again leave them to the merci- 
less gripe of a British lieutenant, or to the ignominious and 
bloody stripes of a British boatswain. 

It reflects discredit on the government that there is no public 
hospital or asylum provided for the common sailors, maimed or 
grown decrepid in their country's service. I am delighted to be 
able to put on record, that since I began this chapter, a public- 
spirited citizen who has no concern in commerce, and who de- 
sires his name to be concealed, has authorised a friend to head 
a subscription for the excellent purpose of establishing such an 
asylum, with one thousand dollars. It is hoped our Girards, 
and our Clapiers, and our Willings, and our Pratts, and oar 
Ralstons, and our Kochs, will imitate this laudable example. 



CHAPTER LXXVIII. 

Congressional Caucuses for President and Vice-President. 

This is a delicate subject to discuss at any time. It is pecu- 
liarly so at the present moment,* as nominations for these offices 
must be shortly made. And it may be supposed that I write with 
a view to this individual case. I shall therefore probably give 
offence to many whose opinions I prize, and would be very re- 
luctant to forfeit. To this consequence, however, I submit. No 
man, who has not fortitude to dare such an issue, ought ever to 
take the pen on cotemporaneous politics. 

I have no view to any particular candidate, nor to any particu- 
lar election. My remarks shall be general. They will apply 
to all congressional nominations of presidents and vice- 
presidents, as well past as future. 

That the elective principle is the key-stone of the arch of re- 
presentative or republican government, is a maxim in which all 

* ■vVritten JanHarj^ 1816, 



4'4(3 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH, [chap. 78 

political writers are agreed. And that its purity ought therefore 
to be guarded with the utmost vigilance, is beyond all doubt or 
controversy. — Every measure calculated to vitiate it — to subject 
it to the influence of intrigue or sinister management, ought to 
excite the alarm of all the friends of rational liberty, and produce 
the most decisive exertions to remedy the evil. 

These ideas, so intrinsically just, as, I hope, to command uni- 
versal assent, apply to every grade of public ofBcers elected by 
the people. Bat the higher the office, and the more extensive 
its powers, the more cogent becomes the reasoning, and the 
more decided the call for care and circumspection. 

It does not require any argument to prove, that the most im- 
portant elections in the United States, are those of president 
and vice president. This stands confessed. The high degree 
of solicitude they excite, not merely in this country, but some- 
times in foreig-n nations, is a full proof of the pu.blic sentiment 
on this subject. 

It will therefore be time well employed to examine whether 
the system pursued in the important operation of nominating 
candidates for these exalted stations, be pure and correct, or 
whether it be radically unsound and vicious. If the former, it 
is entitled to a cordial support. If otherwise, our best and most 
influential citizens ought to devise and apply a remedy. 

In order to decide whether a system be correct, or the re- 
verse, it is necessary to state precisely what it is. My information 
as to the plan pursued by the federal party is so imperfect, that I 
must confine myself to that of their political opponents. 

During the session of congress previous to the close of the 
presidential term of office, a convention, or caucus, as it is term- 
ed, is held of the senators and members of the house of repre- 
sentatives of the United States, belonging to this party. They 
take a silent vote by ballot on the candidates proposed. Those 
gentlemen on whom they finally agree, arc recommended to the 
citizens of the United States as the candidates of the party for 
the two offices. 

In every instance hitherto, this nomination has been acquies- 
ced in bv the great body of the party. Hence it results, that this 
nomination is virtually and substantially equivalent to an elec- 
tion. This is a most serious and solemn consideration. 

The party considers itself bound to support the candidate 
thus proposed. And any state, hoAvcver powerful, or any indi- 
vidual, however high his standing, or important his services, 
that does not submit to this dictation, is denounced. The oppo- 
sition is regarded as apostacy from the party. 

It thus appears, that "the most enllghted nation in the world'" 
elects its first magistrate through the agency of a few men, who 



CHAP. 78.3 Congressional caucuses. 441 

are themselves merely elected for the purpose of legislation. It 
is true, we persuade ourselves, that we elect the president and 
vice-president. We have eighteen boards of electors, who, witli 
much parade and solemnity, ballot for those officers. But it is 
in fact little more than mere form. The business, as hitherto 
conducted, is precisely to confirm tlie high behests of the cau- 
cus, who have really and truly dictated the candidate — to regis- 
ter their edicts, as, under the arbitrary monarchs of France, the 
parliaments of that country were obliged to register the royal 
edicts. 

It is easy to perceive how great a departure this is from our 
political principles — ^hoW directly in the teeth of freedom of 
election. 

But before I attempt to reason on the subject, I shall submit 
to the reader some historical sketches of past arrangements. I 
have tried to procure data or documents respecting the no- 
minations in 1800 and 1804. But my researches have been 
fruitless.* With those of 1808 and 1812, I have been more suc- 
cessful. I can furnish a tolerably circumstantial account of 
both, which will enable the reader to decide with accuracy on 
the justice or unsoundiiess of the view^ I shall give. 

Mr. Jefferson, the third president of the United States, had 
determined to retire from public life, on the close of the second 
period of his official duties. His intentions were announced to 
congress on the 10th December, 1807, nearly twelve months 
previous to the election of his successor. 

About six weeks afterwards, that is, on the 23d January, 
1808, a convention of the democratic members of both houses of 
congress, at Washington, was summoned by a circular from Ste- 
phen Roe' Bradley, one of the senators from the state of Ver- 
inont. This important prerogative was assumed, or pretended 
to be derived from the circumstance of his having been chair- 
man of a similar caucus, held for the same purpose, in 1804 ! ! * 
His Qircular letter follows : 

" In pursuance of the powers vested in me as president of the late conven- 
tion of the republican members of both houses of congress, I deem it expedi- 
ent, for the purpose of nominating suitable characters for the president and 
vice-president of the United States, for the next presidential election, to call a 
convention of the said repubhcan members, to meet at the senate chamber, on 
Saturday, the 23d instant, at six o'clock, P. M. at which time and place your 
personal attendance is requested, to aid the meeting- with your influence, infor- 
mation, and talents. Dated at Washington, this I9th day of January, 1808. 

"STEPHEN R. BRADLEY."! 

This assumption of power excited the indignation of several 
of the members, who did not merely absent themselves from the 

* The failure is of no importance, as in these elections there was little or no 
opposition in the party, 
t American Register, vol. v. page 80-. 



/ 



442 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. fcHAP. 78. 

meeting, but denounced it in the most pointed terms. Some 
idea may be formed of their sentiments, from the following re- 
ply of Edwin Gray, esq. one of the members of the house of 
representatives from Virginia. 

« SlH, 

" Your proclamation, dated the 19th instant, and addressed to me, I have 
just received; and I take the earliest moment to deqlare myabhon-ence of the 
usurpation of power declared to be vested in you— of your mandatory style, 
and the object contemplated. I deny th.at you possess any right to call upon 
tlie repubhcan members of congress, or other persons, at this time and place,, 
to attend a caucus for the presidential election. You must permit me to remind 
you that it was for a far different purpose for which my constituents reposed 
their confidence in me. I cannot consent, either in an individu.al or representa- 
tive capacity, to countenance, by my presence, the midnight intrigues of anf 
set of men who may arrogate to themselves the right (which belongs only to 
the people) of selecting proper persons to fill the important offices of president 
and vice-president ; nor do 1 suppose that tlie honest people of the United 
States can much longer suff'er, in silence, so direct and palpable an invasion 
upon the most important and sacred right belonging exclusively to them.* 

" Stephen Roe Bradlet, Esa. EDWIN GRAY.' ' 

Josiah Masters, one of the representatives from the state of 
New York, affixed a placard in a conspicuous place in Congres.'v 
Hall, in the following words : 

" In pursuance of a similar power, vested in mc.with that assumed by Stephen 
R. Bradley, one of the senate, contrary to the true principles of the constitution^ 
I deem it expedient, for the purpose of not nominating any characters for presi- 
dent or vice-president of the United States at the nextpresidentialelection, not to 
call a convention, alias caucus, to meet in the senate chamber, on Saturday, the 
23d instant, at six o'clock, P. M.; at which time and place the personal attend- 
ance of the said republican members is notrequested,toaidthcimconstitutional 
meeting, solicited by the said Stephen R. Bradley ; and at which time and 
place I hereby request they will not attend to aid and sanction an infringement 
of one of the most important features and principles of the constitution of the 

United States. 

"JOSIAH MASTERS." 

« Washington, Jan. 21, 1808." 

Nevertheless, ninety-four members attended the caucus. 
Five of the number refused to take any part in the proceedings 
— and of course the business was decided by eighty-nine. 

It must be satisfactory to the reader to know how the several 
states were represented in the caucus, and the proportion that 
the votes in that body bore to the weight they enjoyed in con- 
gress. 

Li Caucus'. In Coii^resn. 
Senators. Repres. Senators. Repres. 

New Hampshire .--15 25 

Massachusetts - - - 1 10 2 17 

Vermont ...-22 24 

Connecticut . . - 2 7 

Rhode Island --.-22 22 

New York ... 01 2 17 

New Jersey .... 2 4 2 o 



24 M 58 



Ibid. 



(JHAP. 78.] 



CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUSES. 



44S 



Broug'ht forward 
Pennsylvania 
Delaware 
Maryland 
Virginia 
Ohio 

Kentucky 
North Carolina 
South Carolina 
Georgia - - . 

Tennessee 
Indiana Territoiy 



The votes were— 

President. 
For James Madison, 
George Clinton, 
James Monroe, 



24 



14 



58 



1 


8 








1 


4 


2 


13 


1 


1 


2 


4 


1 


7 


1 


5 


2 


4 


2 


2 





1 


21 


73 



2 


18 


2 


1 


2 


9 


2 


22 


2 


1 


2 


6 


2 


12 


2 


8 


2 


4 


2 


3 





1 



145 



83 



89 



Vice-President. 

For George Clinton, 79 

John Langdon, 5 

Henry Deai-born, 3 

John Quincy Adams, 1 

88 



Against the proceedings of this caucus, there was a strong 
protest published by seventeen members of both houses of con- 
gress. 

The reasons assigned for the protest were two-fold — one was 
the utter impropriety of the measure itself — and the other, ob- 
jections to the presidential candidate. It cannot be amiss to state 
some of those reasons.* 

" Our alai-m is equally excited, whether we advert to the mode in which the 
meeting was summoned, or to the proceedings after it was convened. The se- 
nator who assumed the power of calling together tlie members of congress, did 
it under the pretext of that power being vested in him, by a former conven- 
tion ; this pretext, whether it be true or not, implies an assertion of a right in 
the congress of 1804, to direct their successors in the mode of choosing the 
chief magisti-ate ; an assertion which no man has ever before had the hardihood 
to advance. The notices were private ; not general to all the m,embers of the 
two houses ; nor confined to the republican party ; a delegate from one of the 
territories was invited and attended ; a man who in elections has no suffrage, 
and in legislation no vote. The persons, who met in pursuance of this unpre- 
cedented summons, proceeded without chscussion or debate, to determine by 
ballot the candidates for the highest offices in the union. Tlie characters of 
different men, and their pretensions to the public favour, were not suffered to 
be canvassed, and all responsibiUty was avoided by the mode of selection. The 
•determination of this conclave has been published as the act of the republican 
party ; and with as much exultation as the result of a solemn election by the 
nation. Attempts are making to impress upon the public mind, that these pro- 
ceedings ought to be binding upon all the republicans : and those who refused 
to attend, or disapprove of the meeting, arc denounced as enemies of liberty, 
and as apostates from the cause of the people. In this state of things, wc think 
it our duty to address you, and we deem ourselves called upon to enter our 
most solemn protest against these proceedings. 

" It is true that at former periods, when tiie election of a president and vice- 
president approached, it was customary to hold meetings of the members of 
congress, for tlie purpose o/ recommending candidates to the public. But 



' Idem, page 81. 



444 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 78. 

tliese meeUngs, if not justified, were palliated by the necessity of union. The 
federalists presented a formidable phalanx ; and eitlier to succeed at all, or to 
prevent them from placing the candidate for the vice-presidency in the presi- 
dential chair, it was necessary to exert the combined efforts of tlie whole re- 
pubhcan party. But it is equally true, that in those cases, the nominations for 
the presidency were matters of course. In tlie first and second elections under 
the constitution, the eyes of all were turned upon General Washington : and 
since the expiration of those periods, during which he filled the supreme exec- 
utive office, there has not till now been any difference of opinion among the_ 
republicans, as to the candidates for the first magistracy. The real object of 
all former meetings was to produce such a co-operation as would secure the 
election of a repnbhcan vice-president. 

" The circumstances, which might be urged ni extenuation of such a mea- 
sure heretofore, do not now exist. The federalists are comparatively few iu 
number, and form but a feeble party. They cannot give to any one candidate, 
more than sixteen or seventeen votes out of one hundred and seventy-six ; no 
federalist can therefore be elected by the electors ; and should no person have 
a majority of all the electoral votes, the choice of the president will devolve on 
the members of the present house of representatives, in which the federalists 
have the votes of only two states, Connecticut and Delaware. The alteration 
of the constitution prevents the danger of any intrigue, by which the intended 
vice-president iTiight be elected president. No good reason can therefore now 
be assigned, why a union of the republicans in favour of any particular person, 
shoidd be attempted by a measure in itself so exceptionable, as a nomination 
by the senators and representatives in congress. 

" So conscioOs were the members who attended the late meeting, of the 
weight of objections which might be urged against their proceedings, that they 
have thought it proper to publish an exculpatory resolution, proposed by Mr. 
Giles, of Virginia, and unanimously adopted. They have declared, that in 
"making the nominations, they have acted only in their individual characters 
as citizens." This is very true, because they could act in no other, without a 
breach of their oaths, and a direct violation of the letter of the constitution. 
But was it not intended that those nominations should be enforced by the 
sanction of congressional names ?— They proceed to assert " that they have 
been induced to adopt this measure, from the necessity of the case, from a 
deep conviction of the importance of a union of the republicans throughout 
all parts of the United States, in the present crisis of both our external and 
internal affairs." AVe trust we have shown that no such necessity exists, and 
that a union among the republicans, in favour of an individual, is not important. 
" We do therefore, in the most solemn manner, protest against the proceed-^ 
ings of the meeting, held in the senate chamber, on the twenty-third day qt' 
January last, because we consider tliem — 

" As being in direct hostility to the principles of the constitution : 
« As a gross assumption of power not delegated by the people, and not jus- 
tified or extenuated by any actual necessity. 
" As an attempt to produce an unju.st bias in the ensuing election of presi- 
dent and vice-president, and virtually to transfer the appointment of those 
officers from the people, to a majority of the two houses of congress. 
« And we do in the same manner, protest against the nomination of James 
Madison, as we believe him to be unfit to fill the office of president in the pji.-e- 
sent juncture of our affairs. 

"JOSEPH CLAY, W. HOGE, 

ABKAHAM TRIGG, SAMUEL SMITH, 

JOHN RUSSELL, DAN. MONTGOMERY, 

JOSLVH MASTERS, JOHN HARRIS, 

GEORGE CLINTON, jun. SAMUEL MACLAY, 

GURDON S. MUMFORD, D. R. WILLIAMS, 

JOHN THOMPSON, JAS. M. GARRETT, 

PETER SWART, JOHN RANDOLPH" 

EDWIN GRAY, 
■'• City of JVasfdngton, Feb. 27, 1808." 



CHAP. 78. CONGRESSION.VL CAUCUSES. 445 

The caucus nomination met with violent opposition in vai'i- 
ous parts of the United States. The same ground was taken as 
by the protestors. George Clinton possessed the regard, the es- 
teem and the gratitude of his fellow citizens, in a very high de- 
gree. The members of congress from the state of New York 
were most decidedly attached to him ; and, except one, absent- 
ed themselves from the caucus. 

There was, moreover, in the state of Virginia, a strong partj'^ 
in favour of Mr. Monroe, who appointed a most respectable 
committee to promote his election. But all opposition was vain. 
The paramount influence of the congressional caucus overpow- 
ered all competition; and the votes of the presidential electors 
were 



President. 




Vice-President. 




James Madison 


122 


Georg-e Clinton 


113 


C. C. Pinckney 


48 


llufus King- 


48 


George Clinton 


6 


John Langdon 


9 






James. Madison 


o 






James Monroe 


3 



176 176 



It is therefore obvious that 83 members of congress did 
effectually dictate a president, and 79 a vice-president, fur the 
United States. And it is equally clear that they took the na- 
tion completely by surprise ; and by their precipitation did not 
allow the chance of a fair expression of public opinion. The 
occasion by no means required such haste. They might have 
waited till the close of the session without any conceivable dis- 
advantage : whereas, as I have already stated, in six weeks from 
the declaration of Mr. Jefferson's determination, and above ten 
months previous to the election, they wrested the choice from 
the hands of the nation. 

In the whole of this statement, I studiously waive all compa- 
rison between the three respectable citizens who alone were con- 
templated for president by the party — James Madison, James 
Monroe, and George Clinton. Their merits, or demerits, do not 
at all affect the question : and it cannot be denied, that there was 
a degree of indecorum and impropriety in the measure that can- 
not be justified. 

I shall now give a view of the caucus in 1812, considerably 
more in detail, as more recent. 

It was held on the 18th of May, and attended by 17 senators, 
and 65 members of the house of representatives. To enable the 
reader to investigate the subject with more accuracy, I annex a 
list of their names — the states they represented — and the sta- 
tions they filled. 

O. B. 58 



446 



POLITICAL OUVE BRANCH. 



[cHXP. 78- 



JVeti' HampsMre. 
Senator. 
Richard Ciitts. 

Representatives. 
Josiah Bart let, 
Obed Hall, 
John A. Harper. 

JMaasacliiisetts. 
Senator. 
John B. A'arniim. 

Representatives. 
Isaiah L. Green, 
Ebcnezer Seaver, 
Charles Turner, jiin. 
■\Vm. M. Richardson. 
Vermont. 
Senator. 
Jonathan Robinson. 

Representatives. 
James Fisk, 
Samuel Shasv. 

Rhode Island- 

Senator. 

Jeremiah B, Howell. 

JVew York. 

Senator. 

John Smith. 

Representatives. 

Samuel L. Mitcliill, 
Ebenezer Sage, 
Thomas Sammons. 
J\te.\v Jersey. 
Senator. 
John Condit. 

Representatives. 
Lewis Condit, 
James Morgan, 
Adam Boyd. 

J^cnnsylvnnia. 
Senators. 
Andrew Gregg, 
Michael Leib. 



Representatives. 
William Anderson, 
David Bai-d, 
Robert Brown, 
William (Crawford, 
Roger Davis, 
William Findlay, 
John M. Hyneman, 
Abner Lacock, 
Aaron Lyle, 
William Piper, 
William SmiUe, 
George Smith. 

JMaryland. 

Representatives. 
Samuel liing-gold, 
Robert A\'right. 
Virginia. 
Senator. 
Richard Brent. 

Representatives. 
Bui'well Basset, 
Matthew Clay, 
Wm. A Bui-well, 
John Dawson, 
Tliomas Gholson, 
Peterson Goodwyn, 
A. M. H.iwcs, 

. — 'I'aliaferro, 

Wilham M'Coy, 
Hugh Nelson, 
Thomas Newton, 
James Pleasants, jun. 

JVurth Carolina. 
Senator. 
James Turner. 

Representatives. 
^Villis Alston, 
James Cochran, 
^V'illiam R. King', 
Israel Pickens. 



South Carolina. 
Senator. 
John Taylor. 

Representatives. 
William Butler, 
John C. Callioun, 
Elias Earle, 
Thomas Moore, 
Richard Winn. 

Georgia. 
Senators. 
William H. Crawford, 
Charles Tait. 

Representatives. 
William H. Bibb, 
Boiling Hall, 
George M. Troup. 
Kentucky. 
Senator. 
John Pope, 

Representatives. 
Henry Clay, 
Joseph Desha, 
Richard M. Johnson, 
Samutl M'Kee, 
Stephen Ormsby, 
Anthony New. 

Tennessee. 
Senators. 
Joseph Anderson, 
G. W. Campbell. 

Representatives.. 
Felix Grundy, 
John Rhea, 
John Sevier. 

Ohio. 
Senator. 
Thomas Worthingtoii. 

Representative. 
Morrow. 



Mississippi Territoii/. 
)rge 
Indiana Territory — Jonathan Jennings. 



George Poindextcr. 



CHAP. 78.] CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUSES. ^ U7 

In Caucus. In 6emctt»,f '^ 
Sen. Rep. Sen. Rep. ' 
New Hampshire, - - -13 2 5 

Vermont, - - -- 1224 

Massacluisetts, - - - 1 4 2 17 

Connecticut, - - - - 2 7 

Rhode Island, - - - 1 2 



o 



New-York, - - - - 1 3 2 17 

New-Jersey, - '. - -1326 

Penns}'lvania, - - - 2 12 2 18 

Delaware, - - - -002l 

Maryland, - - - - 2 2 9 

Virginia, - - - -112 2 22 

North Carolina, - - - 1 4 2 12 

South CaroUna, - - - 1 5 2 8 

Georgia, - - - - 2 3 2 4 

Kentucky, - - - -1626 

Tennessee, - -- -2323 

Ohio, - - - - 112 1 

Indiana ten-itor}', - - - 1 1 

Mississippi territory, - - - 1 1 

17 65 34 144 

Still further to facilitate a decision on the justice or injustice 
of this procedure, I submit four different views of its results : 

First Viexv, 

Votes in Caucus. In both Haiises, 
Connecticut and Delaware, 
Five eastern states, - - . 

New-York, .... 

Pennsylvania and New-Jersey, 
Maryland, - . - . . 

Virginia, ..... 
North Carolina, - . - ' - 

South Carolina and Georgia, - ' 

Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Mississip^pi and^ 
Indiana teri'itories, S 






12 


13 


45 


4 


19 


18 


28 


2 


11 


13 


24 


5 


14 


12 


16 



.15 16 



Second Viezv. 

New- York and Massachusetts, - - - 9 38 

South CaroUna, Georgia, Kentuck)', Tennessee,') c,_ „ 

Ohio, Mississippi and Indiana territories, 5 *" "^ ^ 

Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, and Connecticut, 18 37 

New Hampshire, Maryland, and North CaroUna, 11 32 

Third View. 

Massachusetts, .... 5 jg 

New-York, - - ... 4 19 

Pennsylvania, - - - ..14 20 

Virginia, ----- 13 24 

Fourth Viexv. 

Five eastern states, - - - - 13 45 

Middle — New- York, Pennsylvania, New- Jersey'? ,,9 r^ 

and Delaware, 5 ~'' 

Southern — Maiyland, Virginia, North CaroUna,^ „. ,„ 

South CaroUna, and Georgia, J 

■\Vestern states^ - , - . j-j iq:^ 



448 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 78, 

New- York and Massachusetts, with 38 members in congress, 
had but nine votes in caucus ; whereas South Carolina, with 
ten members, had seven votes. 

The Avestern states and territories, with sixteen votes in con- 
gress, and two members without votes, had no less than fifteen 
votes in caucus ; being within one as many as Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, New- York, Maryland, North Carolina, and Dela- 
ware, which, with 75 votes in congress, had only 16 in caucus. 

It is impossible to review these tables without being most 
forcibly struck with the manifest injustice of the operation of 
this anomalous proceeding. It is in every point of view inde- 
fensible. 

The only palliation that I have ever heard, or seen in print, of 
a congressional nomination of president and vice-president, is, 
that in any other mode it would be difficult, if not impossible, to 
concentrate the exertions and energies of the democratic party 
in any one candidate ; and that therefore unless this system were 
adopted, they would be liable to a defeat. 

This is a flimsy covering, to justify a measure not merely un- 
warranted by the constitution, but, as I shall show, in direct hos- 
tility with as wise and as sound a provision as any in that most 
noble instrument. 

For every departure from constitutional principles that ever 
has taken place, or ever will, an equally plausible reason may 
be found. The British house of commons was chosen trienni- 
ally from the reign of William III. till anno 1716, under the 
reign of George I. During 1715, a rebellion had taken place — 
and been suppressed. And the then existing parliament, under 
pretence that the Jacobites would, in anew parliament, acquire 
a dangerous ascendency, and that the nation would be under 
French influence, passed an act directing the elections to be 
septennial. It may not be irrelevant to state a few of the prin- 
cipal reasons given in favour of the septennial bill. In the house 
of lords, 

•' Tlie duke of Devonshire made a speech on the inconveniences that attend 
triennial elections ; sug'gesting, in particular, that they keep up party di\-isions ; 
raise and ferment feud's and animosities in private families ; occasion ruinous 
expenses ; and give occasion to the cabals and intrigues of foreign princes. 
It therefore became the wisdom of that august assembly to apply a proper 
remedy to an evil, which miglit be attended with the most dangerous conse- 
quences, especially in the present temper of the nation. For, though the re- 
bellion was happily suppressed, yet the spirit of it remained unconquered, and 
seemed only to wiut for an opportunity to shew itself with more violence ; and 
that the election of a new parliament, which by the triennial act was not far 
off, being the most favourable juncture which the disaffected could expect, he 
thought it absolutely necessary to deprive them of it."* 

The reasoning in the house of commons was equally frivolous 
and deceptious : 

* Rapin's England, vol. xix. p. 5. 



CHAP. 78.] CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUSES. 449 

*' Mr. Lyddall made a long speech for the bill, and, among otlier things, said, 
"If this opportunity be lost, you may possibly never have another, or at least 
so good a one, not only to conquer but even to eradicate that spirit of Jaco- 
bitism, which has dwelt long among us, and has more than once brought this 
nation to the very brink of ruin and destruction. Since, therefore, with much 
danger and difficulty, we have at last secured our reUgion, laws, and liberties, 
when all was at stake from the treachery of the late ministiy, and the imac- 
countable proceedings of the last triennial parliament, why should you run the 
risk of having a new one so soon, first chosen by French money, and then vot- 
ing by French directions ' Since the kmg and liis parliament exert their united 
power for the good of the pubUc, and to retrieve the honour of the nation, 
why should they not continue longer together, that they may finish what they 
have so unanimously and happily begun ? Upon the whole, the electors and 
people of all the boroughs in England having, for several years past, been 
bribed and preached into the pretender's interest, and a dislike of the protest- 
ant succession, it becomes rather necessity than choice, to apply an extraordi- 
nary remedy to an extraordinary disease."* 

The danger, if real, subsided — if pretended, as appears pro- 
bable, lost all its plausibility. But power was too sweet to be 
abandoned. The septennial act remains. It has been in opera- 
tion above a century. The best men in the British dominions 
have used their utmost endeavours, in vain, to have the original 
system restored. Those who alone have the power of correct- 
ing the evil, would thereby diminish their own influence. It is 
therefore utterly hopeless to expect a reformation. And the 
best political writers of Great Britain ascribe to this single 
source a large , proportion of the abuses that have arisen since 
the important change took place ; as the eflfect of the alteration 
is to render the representative almost wholly independent of> 
and irresponsible to, his constituents. 

^ After having given a concise, but I hope a satisfactory histo- 
rical sketch of the two most important congressional caucusses 
that have occurred, I proceed \o point out, in brief, a few of 
the radical and powerful objections, to which they are incurably 
liable. 

1. The first objection is, that they are manifestly unequal, and 
of course unjust. 

We have seen that some of the states have had in caucus 
nearly the whole number of their representatives in congress — 
some two-thirds — some one- half—and some were wholly unre- 
presented. And this is an inevitable result of the present sys- 
tem of caucussing. The states of New- York and Pennsylvania, 
with 1,700,000 free inhabitants, if represented by federalists, 
woiild not have as much influence in a democratic caucus, as the 
Indiana territory, if represented by a democrat. I trust there 
is not a candid man in the nation who will deny, that this is an 
overwhelming and unanswerable objection to the system. 

2. They make the seat of government a scene of intrigue, 
and pave the way for the inroads of corruption. 

* Idem, page 16.. 



450 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 785. 

While the nomination^ (that is to say, arguing from past ex- 
perience, the election) of president and vice president, i-esides 
in a body of men, collected in one spot for months together, it 
presents a focus for intrigue, and management, and, let me add, 
for corruption, not merely to ambitious men in our own country, 
but to the ministers of foreign powers, who may feel, as some 
of them undoubtedly do, a desire to acquire an undue influence 
in our councils.* 

The office of president holds out lures to two of the strongest 
passions of human nature — .ambition and avarice. Almost every 
page of history affords the most admonitory warnings against 
their deleterious effects. A man of powerful influence, actua- 
ted by ambition or by avarice, and desii'ous of filling the presi- 
dential chair, can very readily offer sufficient temptations, by 
the numerous offices of profit and honour in the gift of the pre- 
sident, to a few of the leading members of congress, to secure 
their influence, which will give the command of a majority of 
the votes in caucus. 

Against this pernicious consequence, the constitution very 
wisely provides. It directs that the electors of president and 
vice-president shall assemble on one day, in their respective 
states, thus rendering it impossible, from their numbers, and 
their distance, to tamper with them effectually. 

3. A third objection deserves consideration. When a presi- 
dent is desirous of a re-election, he will, as the important period 
of the caucus approaches, find it necessary to consult the views 
and wishes of the leading members of congress, to a degree 
hardly compatible with the independence which his official sta- 
tion requires. A political leader in congress, possessed of great 
influence and address, feels his own importance, and it would 
not be extraordinary if he were, on certain occasions, to make 
it likewise felt, and oppressively too, by the president. 

4. The fourth objection is of itself abundantly sufficient. It 
is simply, that a congressional caucus for president or vice-pre- 
sident is absolutely unconstitutional. 

There are only three classes of persons who are expressly pro- 
hibited from being electors of either of those officers. 1. Mem- 
bers of the senate. 2. Members of the house of representatives 
of the United States — and, 3. Persons holding offices under the 
United States. The constitution expressly declares, that — " no 
senator, or representative, or person holding an office under the 
United States, shall be appointed an elector." 

Is it not wonderful — would it not be incredible, if the fact 
did not thus stare us in the face — that two of the three classes 

* The objection here stated, may be found detailed more fully and more 
satisfactorily in the address of the New-York committee, appointed at the last 
presidential election. 



SHAP. 78] CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUSES. 451 

of men, who are expressly excluded by the constitution, from 
any agency in this important operation, should have dared to 
assume the whole power of election, and that the usurpation 
should have been tamely submitted to by their fellow-citizens ? 

The provision of the constitution is singularly wise and pro- 
found. It is intended to prevent an undue influence upon the 
election — to erect a barrier between the legislative body and the 
first executive magistrate. And is there a man in the nation 
who will venture to say, that the efl^ects proposed to be produced 
by this provision, are not utterly destroyed by the members of 
the legislature daring to propose camdidates, who must be sup- 
ported under the penalty of a political anathema ? 

Disproportionate and objectionable as were the caucuses of 
1808 and 1812, a caucus, merely congressional, for the ensuing 
presidential election, would now (1816) be far more incorrect. 
The eastern states being almost wholly represented in congress 
by federalists, the voice of these states would be ver}^ nearly 
lost in a democratic caucus. They would have little more in- 
fluence in the affair, than the inhabitants of Jamaica or Calcutta. 
The state of Ohio or Tennessee would have more weight in the 
arrangement, than New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, 
Connecticut, Rhode Isl-ind, Delaware, and perhaps Maryland. 
It is impossible for any man, of fairness and candour, not to be 
struck with, or not to acknowledge, the gross^ palpable, and mon- 
strous impropriety of such a system. 

That a constitutional provision might be devised, I feel confi- 
dent. I will venture respectfuUv to suggest one. Should it be 
regarded as improper or inadequate, others may be proposed. 

In two of the states, Connecticut* and New Jersey, the people 
vote for candidates to be put in nomination for members of con- 
gi-ess. If, then, applying this plan to the office of president, at 

* Extract from an Act for regulating the election of Senators and Representatives, 
for the Congress of the United States, for the Slate of Connecticut. 



<( ' 



2. ^^nd be it further enacted, That the freemen of the several towns in this 
state, at the freemen's meeting in April, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
seven hundred and ninety-six, and once in two years tliereafter, at tlie free- 
men's meeting- in April, immediately after giving in their votes for the officers 
of government, sliall each give in his vote or suffrage for fourteen persons, 
such as he Judges qualified, to stand in nomination, for election in the niontii 
of October, then next following, as representatives of the people of this state, 
in the congress of the United States, their names being fairly written on a 
piece of paper, to the person who by law presides in said meeting; who shall 
in the presence of the freemen, make entry of all such persons as the freemen 
shall vote for, and the number of votes for each ; and lodge the same in the 
town-clerk's ofiice, of the town to which he lielongs, and transmit a copy under 
his hand and seal of office, sealed up, to the general assembly, in May then next 
following, by one of the repi-esentatives of such town ; at whicli assembly, tlie 
votes of the freemen shall be counted in manner and form as is hereafter in this 
act directed. And the fourteen persons v/ho have the gi-eatest number of 
votes, shall be the persons whose names shall be returned to the several to'wns, 
to stand in the nomination aforesaid," 



452 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 7S. 

the general election in each state, next previous to the election 
for president and vice-president, the electors were to vote for 
candidates to be put in nomination for these offices, the sense of 
the nation would be fairly taken : and from the candidates thus 
designated, the electors might finally fill the offices. 

But this, or any other constitutional provision is a remote ob- 
ject, and even if adopted, will be too late for the ensuing elec- 
tion. A remedy for some of the evils of the Washington cau- 
cus may be suggested. Let those states that are wholly repre- 
sented by federalists, appoint a number of delegates to proceed 
to attend the caucus at Washington, equal to the whole number 
of members of congress belonging to these states ; and those, that 
arc in part represented by federalists, a number equal to the 
number of federalists. Thus, m the decision of this important 
operation, every state will have its due share of influence.* 

These delegates may be appointed either by the people in 
their districts, or by the democratic members of the several le- 
gislatures, as the case maybe. 

It is obvious, that, although this plan does not remove the 
constitutional objection, it obviates some of the other most solid 

ones. 

If the federalists manage this affair- by congressional caucus, 
every line of this chapter applies to them as well as to the demo- 
crats. 

Just as this sheet was going to press, I met with a plan pro- 
posed by a writer in a Louisville paper, which deserves serious 
consideration. It is, for the state legislatures to appoint com- 
mittees of correspondence to ascertain the public sentiment re- 
specting the various persons among whom it might be proper to 
make a choice. If in this mode a concentration of the energies 
and exertions of the party could be obtained, as seems not im- 
probable, it would be by far the best mode that has hitherto 
been suggested. It would, at all events, obviate all the strong 
•and solid objections to which the system that has heretofore pre- 
vailed, is liable. 

• This idea was suggested by Mr. John Binns, editor of the Democratic 
Press, several months since — and is merely carrying into operation a system 
already acted upon in tlie state of Pcnnsylvaniaj in elections for governor. Jt 
J.3 not tliercfore wholly an untried sclieme. 



APPENDIX 

TO THE EIGHTH EDITION,^ 



CHAPTER LXXIX. 

Western Insurrection. Views of the war. jfohn Henrij^ 

Among the sins of the democratic party, the western inaur- 
vection claims a proud pre-eminence. Had it not been met with 
the energy and decision which General Washington displayed 
on the occasion, its obvious tendency was, and the probable re- 
sult would have been, to destroy the recently raised fabric of the 
federal government — the pride of the new, the admiration of the 
old, world. The wise and the good of this country, and of Eu- 
rope, regarded the crisis with the deepest awe and solicitude. 
The prospect was calculated to appal persons of no mean degree 
of fortitude. The fate of unborn millions hung for a season in 
suspense and doubt. Heaven smiled propitiously on us. It in- 
terposed for our salvation. Our executive magistrate wisely 
called forth an overwl^elming force, which frowned down trea- 
son and rebellion. They shrunk, shuddering with terror, into 
their dens, and called on the mountains to cover them. 

This heinous sin, hideous enough under any possible form, is 
greatly aggravated by a consideration of the subject that led to 
it. It was the excise on spirituous liquors. f Never can the 
ministers of taxation appear in a less exceptionable form, than 
v/hen they derive means of defraying the expenses of govern- 
ment, by limiting the horrible ravages of the destroyer, drun- 
kenness, which, by profound observers, is believed to devour 
more human victims than the sword. 

The deluded men, whose crimes forfeited their lives, to the 
offended justice of their country, and some of whom actually 
lost them in the insurrection,:|: were guilty of most atrocious out« 

* Published July 4, 1817. 

f In chapter 74, there are some severe strictures against the continuance of 
the excise system, which to supei-ficial readei-s will appear inconsistent with 
these remarks. But this will be the case with that class of readers only. The 
excise there reprobated extended to various objects of useful industry, and on 
some of them had a most oppressive effect. 

t There were a few gf the rioters killed in the attack upon the inspector's 
liouse in Pittsburg. 

O, B. 59 



454 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chaf. 79. 

rages. They seized a person of the name of Wilson, whom 
they presumed to be, but who really was not, a collector of the 
revenue — stripped him of his clothes, which they burned — tarred 
and feathered him— burned him on several parts of the body 
with a heated iron — and dismissed him naked, wounded, and 
otherwise in a suffering condition.* They tarred and feathered 
other persons. And they seized and carried off witnesses, in 
order to prevent their giving testimony of the outrages. f 

I'hev likewise burned the barns, with their contents, of per- 
sons who had given information against the insurgents ; and not 
satisfied with this outrage, they perpetrated the same even on 
those who had merely complied with the law.i 

Th<i marshal and inspector of the revenue were beset on 
the road by from thirty to forty armed men, and finally fired 
upon.(§ 

A meeting was held at Pittsburg, of a large number of in- 
habitants of the western counties of Pennsylvania, which passed 
a number of inflammatory and seditious resolutions, — among 
the rest they declared "that they would in future regard 
those who held offices for the collection of the duty as n?nvort/ii/ 
vf their friendship ; that they would have no intercourse nor 
dealings with them ; that they would withdraw from them every 
assistance ; rvithhold all the comforts of life ivhich as me?i and 
felloxv citizens they owed each other ; and on all occasions treat 
them xvith contempt ; earnestly recommending to their fellow- 
citizens at large, to follow the same line of conduct towards 
them. II 

Every attempt was 4nade to appease them, but in vain. 
They proceeded, step by step, to the last extremity. On the 
irth of July, 1794, an armed party of insurgents, amounting to 
about 500 inen, attacked the house of the inspector in Pitts- 
burg, in which was a small but gallant band of soldiers, amount- 
ing to about a dozen men, under Major Kirkpatrick. A brisk 
firing took place, which continued for an hour — and at length, 
the insurgents having set fire to the adjacent buildings, eight in 
number, the intenseness of the heat obliged the major and his 
small party to surrender ; Avhen the assailants burned the in- 
spector's house and all its furniture. They took the marshal and 
inspector prisoners, and only released them on a solemn pledge, 
that they would serve no other process west of the mountains.^ 

They likewise stopped the inail, cut it open, and took out all 
the letters, except those contained in one packet.** 

* Proceedings of the executive of the United States, respecting' the insur- 
' gents. Anno 1794. p. 104. 

I Idem, 105. i Idem, 115, 116. § Idem, 119. 

U Idem, 108. % Idem, 121. ** Idem, 123. 



^CHAP. 79.] VIEWS OF tHE WAR. 455 

Here ended their short-lived triumphs. The president, as 
stated, sagaciously embodied a force that rendered further op- 
position hopeless. 

The leaders of the insurrection fled in various directions— 
and of course escaped danger. Numbers of their deluded fol- 
lowers were unresistingly seized — thrown into prison — tried — • 
found guilty — and all experienced the lenity of the govern- 
ment. 

This unsuccessful insurrection operated, as all others of this 
description have ever done. It wonderfully strengthened the 
hands of the government. It paralized thousands of the demo- 
crats, who had been terrifying themselves with the apprehen- 
sions of the Scylla of despotism — and found themselves on the 
verge of a shipwreck on the Charybdis of anarchy. Vast num- 
bers of them abandoned the ranks of democracy — and enrolled 
themselves beneath the banners of federalism, under which they 
have kept the field ever since. 

New views of the war. 

The late war may be regarded under a variety of views, fur«- 
tiishing ample subjects for exultation, astonishment, and grati- 
tude. I submit two, by no nieans the least remarkable. 

It continued for about two years and a half. For nearly two 
years of that time Great Britain was engaged in a desperate 
and doubtful war with France and her dependencies ; and, of 
course, her attention was distracted from our war to more press- 
ing affairs nearer home. 

During this time, we met with a long series of disasters on, 
land, which, in rapid succession, trod on the heels of each 
other. But from the period of the subjugation of France and 
the final triumph of Great Britain, when we had to engage this 
mighty power single-handed, we were almost unceasingly pros- 
perous, with the exception of the disgraceful and never-enough- 
to-be-regretted disaster at Washington. 

The other view of the war is as interesting. It was, with 
few exceptions, conducted by the ministry of Great Britain with 
great imbecility. Yet where the means were least proportion- 
ed to the end», they succeeded best. Of this their success at 
Washington affords a most complete illustration. With the force 
the British had on that occasion, it was a most extravagant and 
wild undertaking, to venture so far from their shipping in svich 
a country. But where they planned with the most prudence 
and sagacity, there they were most signally defeated. The 
ablest statesman that ever lived, could hardly have made moi-e 
judicious arrangements — or better propoitioned the means to 
the object in view, than was done at Plattsburg and New Or- 
leans : and never was there a more complete prospect of sue- 



4S6 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH; [chap. 79. 

cess. But never were arrangements more completely baffled—- 
never were defeats more signal — than in those two cases. The 
disproportion of forces was immensely great ; but the dispro- 
portion of destruction was far greater. There is probably no 
example of the kind in history equal to that of New Orleans. 

These two cases affoi-d the a)ost complete corroboration of the 
scripture maxim — " the race is not always to the swift— nor the 
battle to the strong." 

yokn Henry, 

The employment of this British agent by sir John Craig, to 
sound the views of the leaders of the federal party in the east- 
ern states, and to ascertain how far they would " exert their in- 
fluence to bring about a separation from the general union ;'' and 
" how far, in such an event, they would look to England for 
assistance, or be disposed to enter into a connexion" with her, 
has been stated in the 27th chapter, in which the correspond- 
ence between the employer and the agent has been given. 

He was not only ungenerously but unjustly treated by the 
British government. He had been employed by one of their 
highest public functionaries on an important service, attended 
with considerable trouble, difficulty, and expense — and requiring 
a respectable grade of talents. In the performance of this ser- 
vice, he displayed ability and industry. He fairly earned a 
handsome reward : and it was discreditable to Great Britain not 
to compensate him. 

Irritated to revenge by this treatment — and probably pressed 
by v/ant, he came to this country to sell his secret to the best 
advantage. Our administration gave him the enormous and 
most extravagant bonus of 50,000 dollars for his discoveries and 
his breach of faith to his original employers.* 

It was most immoderately beyond the value of the communi- 
cation. The administration doubtless calculated that it would 
excite a general resentment against the British nation and the 
partizans of that nation,' which would produce a great degree of 
unanimity in favour of the war. And had Alexander Hamilton 
been at the head of the government, and possessed such an in- 
strument against his political opponents, he would have crushed 
them, as the forked lightning crushes whatever stands in it's way. 
But, at it was managed, it became a mere pop gun, wholly in- 
operative as to the end proposed. Indeed, it may be fairly 
doubted whether it did not actually recoil upon and injure the 
administration. 

* Never was money more wretchedly bestowed. One half the interest of it, 
employed in publications, to defend tlie measures of the government from the 
gross misrepresentations which they underwent, would probably have prevent- 
ed the wai*, and saved millions of dollars and thousands of valuable live^, 



CHAP. 80] BLtTE LIGHTS. 4^ 

CHAPTER LXXX. 

Blue Lights, Congress. 

At an early period of the war, Captain Decatur, in the United 
States, accompanied by the Macedonian and Hornet, sailed 
from New. York, into the Sound, hoping to elude the vigi- 
lance of the enemy's squadron cruising off that harbour. He 
was disappointed in this calculation, and obliged to take refuge 
in the port of New London, where he was blockaded by a su- 
perior force. 

The weather, on two occasions, appeared to afford him a fair 
chance of escape, of which he was anxiously desirous to avail 
himself. But in both instances he was defeated by traitors, who, 
by means of blue lights^ announced his intentions to the enemy, 
so as to render the attempt a certain prelude to destruction. 

This is a most melancholy consideratioru It evinces the aw- 
ftil extent to which disaffection and the treasonable spirit was 
carried, and affords a most admonitory warning against the 
curses with which faction is pregnant. 

Attempts were made to destroy the belief of this atrocious 
fact. It was flatly contradicted in various newspapers in the 
eastern states. The following is the form in which the contra- 
diction appeared in the Rhode Island American : 

" In our paper of Friday last [December 17, 1813] we republished from the 
New London Gazette, an account respecting the exhibition of blue lights, on 
the heights near that place, designed as signals to the enemy's flee*. We 
were unwilling to believe that any of our citizens could be guilty of so gross 
an outrage on the laws of their country ; and are happy now to have it in our 
power to state, on the authority of a respectable paper published at Norwich, 
that the statement was totally incorrect. It appears, that on the night of Sun- 
day the 12th inst. blue lights from the enemy's ships were discernible from our 
guard boats. But none were seen proceeding from the land." 

It would be highly grateful, for the honour of our country, tb 
find these confident assertions coincide with the fact. Unfor- 
tunately they are in direct hostility with it, as will appear from 
the following 

Extract of a letter Jrom Commodore Decatur to the Secretary of the J^^avy. 

J\'e-u London, Dec. 20, 1813. 
" Some few nights since, the weather promised an opportunity for this 
squadron to get to sea : aixl it was said on shore, that we intended to make 
the attempt. In the course of the evening, two blue lights were burned on 
both the points at the harbour's mouth, as signals to the enemy. And tiiere 
is not a doubt, but that they have, by signals and otherwise, instantaneous in- 
formation of our movements. Great, but unsuccessful exertions have been, 
made to detect those who communicate with the enemy by signal. The edi- 
tor of the New London Gazette, to alarm them, and in the hope to prevent 
the repetition of these signals, stated in that newspaper, that they had been 
observed, and ventured to denounce those who had made them, in the most in- 
dignant terms. The consequence is, that he has incurred the express censtire of 
some ff his noighbours. Notwithstanding these signals ia^■e been repeated, and 



458 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. ^ 

have been seen by twenty persons at least in this squadron, thefe are men in 
New London ivho have the hardihood to affect to disbelieve it, and tlie effrontery to 
avow their disbelief. 1 am, &c. STEPHEN DECATUR." 

Hon. Win. Jones, Sec. of the JVavy. 

It may not be unsatisfactory to the reader, to see the state- 
ment from the New London Gazette to which Commodore De- 
catur refers, and which, alas ! excited the indignation of the 
printer's patriotic neighbours ! 

JVew London, Dec. 15. 
" It will astonish every American who has one spark to kindle into a flame 
the love of his country, when we state as a fact, for which we vouch, that on 
Sunday evening last, when the report was current, that our squadron would 
put to sea before the next morning-, in the course of the nig-ht, blue lights were 
raised on the heights both at Groton and on this side of the entrance of our 
harbour ; evidently designed as signals to the British fleet. This has excited 
the highest indignation : and the most decisive measures have been taken to 
detect and to bring to condign punishment the traitorous wretches who dare 
thus to give the enemy every advantage over tliose great and gallant men, who, 
in the war with Tripoli, and in the present contest, have honoui'ed the Ameri- 
can stars with a lustre which cannot be eclipsed." 

Congress, 

It is impossible for any man who has the honour or interest 
ot this country at heart, to view some of the proceedings of con- 
gress, without mixed emotions of astonishment, and deep regret. 

The mind eagerly searches in those proceedings for symptoms 
of that public spirit, those enlarged views, that regard for the per- 
manent honour or interest of the nation, which their country has 
a right to demand. The search is too frequently in vain. There 
are not many traces of them to be found. 

Congress have been steadily years behind the mass of the 
nation, whose voice has loudly, but ineffectually called for a va- 
riety of measures of great public utility, becoming a nation which 
has started into independent existence with advantages hardly ever 
equalled, never surpassed. What blessings would they have de- 
served, had they enacted a comprehensive and jtidicious bankrupt 
law, to stem the tide of fraud which is invited by the want of a 
stiitable legal provision on the subject — a noble and enlightened 
scheme of militia defence — a general plan for extending the in- 
tercourse between the states by magnificent canals and roads, on 
a scale commensurate with the magnitude of the country — a 
sound and effectual tariff for the protection of domestic indu^ 
try — and had they made that provision for the brave defenders 
of their country,* which public gratitude demanded ! And how 
great and how just is the condemnation they richly deserve, and 
will indubitably receive from history, for their utter neglect ot 
these grand and magnificent objects ! 

To the loud call of the nation, for these and various other great 
measures, has been added the strong recommendation, often re- 

» Wiitten 1817. 



«HAP. 80.] CAUCUS. 459 

peated^ofthe various executives. But the call and the recom- 
mendation have been equally unavailing. 

The nation must suffer, in the eyes of the world, by its repre- 
sentatives. Almost wholly unaided by those representatives 
and, in some respects, in spite of them, it breasted the storm of 
foreign warfare; emerged through all its difficulties; and as- 
cended the highest pinnacle of glory. 

It was fondly hoped that the odious imbecility of the majority, 
and the factious violence of the minority, which, during the 
war, menaced the country with destruction, would have been of- 
fered up as a sacrifice at the restoration of peace, on the altar of 
patriotism, and that the future contest would be, who should 
labour most for the public prosperity. 1 he hope was perfectly 
natural. Would to heaven it had been realized ! Such conduct 
might, in a great degree, have expiated the sins, manifold and 
heavy as they were, of the period of warfare. The nation would 
have buried them in oblivion; as the return to virtue, entitles 
a repentant sinner to a reception in the fold. But the fatigued 
eye seeks in vain among the barren pages of what are pomp 
ously styled the journals of congress, for any thing that as- 
sumes the form of atonement. Every page exhibits the same 
miserable waste of time in speechifying — the same utter neglect 
of those mighty objects that are so loudly called for by patriot- 
ism, the unanimous voice of all the good and the wise of the na- 
tion, and the strong and unequivocal dictates of duty. 



CAUCUS. 

This subject presents itself to the mind in a point of view, 
highly interesting, and almost entirely novel. 

Throughout the United States, too much importance is at- 
tached to the men who are to administer our state and general 
governments. It would appear, when we are called upon to 
elect a president or governor, that we believe there is but one 
man in the country fit for the presidency, and but one in a state 
suitable for governor; and that if we fail of electing them, our 
affairs are doomed to destruction. This is an absurdity dis- 
graceful to the nation. Heaven has not been so parsimonious 
of its endowments as to furnish but one or two men fit for the 
reins of government, as president, in a population of 8,000,000 
— or, as governor, in a population of 500,000, 700,000, or 
1,000,000. 

Let us boldly examine the subject, and ascertain the real state 
of it, regardless of the censure of those to whom every thing is 
wrong that militates against ancient usage. 

We will take a retrospect of a few years ; as the mind's eye 
can view objects at a moderate distance, in point of time, more 



4^0 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 80* 

correctly, than those of a similar description that are passing 
around us. 

When Mr. Jefferson retired from public life, three citizens of 
high standing were contemplated by different portions of the 
nation to fill the vacant seat : George Clinton, venerable for his 
undeviating patriotism and his valuable revolutionary services^ — 
James Madison, an able defender of the federal constitution, 
distinguished as an enlightened and independent representa- 
tive in congress, and as secretary of state, which stations he 
filled with great credit — and James Monroe, who had long serv- 
ed in a diplomatic capacity in France and England, in periods 
of considerable difficulty and embarrassment. No others were 
brought forward or contemplated by the democratic party. - 
Yet it is not improbable that there might have been found in that 
party twenty, perhaps one hundred, other citizens, in the United 
States, with high claims on public favour, and with talents and 
merits equal to any of these. To the mass of the nation it was 
Vi matter of supreme indifference, which of the three was chosen 
—as they were all men suitable for the station, possessed of 
pure characters, great experience, and of sound republican prin- 
ciples. 

To the particular friends of each candidate, indeed, the choice 
•was a matter of immense importance. On the issue of that 
question depended, whether they were to continue in private life, 
or to fill the high public stations in the presidential gift. It is 
not wonderful, therefore, that they struggled hard to effect the 
nomination of their friends respectively. This affords a com- 
plete clue to the factious violence generated by our elections, 
whereby neighbours, friends, and relations are embittered 
against each other — and whereby, at a future day, the peace and 
liberty of the country may be sacrificed. 

Had the unbiassed voice of the nation prevailed, it is almost 
ceilain that Mr. Clinton would have been the successful candi- 
date. His career, as a politician, had been undeviatingly pure 
and unsullied. His reputation was deservedly very high. He 
filled a large space in the histcay of the revolution : and in can- 
vassing the claims of candidates for honours or emoluments in 
the gift of the people, or that of the governments, either state 
or federal, revolutionary services are entitled to great and deci- 
sive weight. 

The congressional caucus, a manifest and most flagrant viola- 
tion of the constitution, prevailed. Mr. Madison, nominated 
by that caucus, was elected by the democratic party. His ad- 
ministration affords much food for censure — much for praise. 
He was an excellent peace president, except on one point. This 
lespects the insurrectional proceedings in the eastern states. 
The hydra of faction and insurrection ought to have beeii 



CHAP. 80.] TACTION. 461 

Strangled in the cradle. Had the strong arm of govertiment 
been employed, as it ought to have been, the struggle would 
have been short and decisive. Incipient treason would have 
expired in agonies. During the war, none but a sorry parasite 
can deny, that Mr. Madison committed errors, and was guilty 
of omissions, some of them of great magnitude. Yet on a fair 
review of his whole administration — taking into coiisideration 
the immense difficulties and embarrassments, mternal and exter- 
nal, with which he had to contend, the impartial voice of history, 
when he and his cotemporaneous eulogists and calumniators are 
consigned to the peaceful grave, will pronounce a favourable 
sentence on his presidency. His communications to congress 
were just, luminous, profound, and contained full details of the 
soundest policy : and a large proportion of his appointments 
were eminently wise and judicious. These are the principal 
points on which a president of the United States has to act. 
And of those who have lavished so much abuse on the late pre- 
sident, for his errors, may we not ask — Do not all human af- 
fairs exhibit a mixture of good and ill, of wisdom and folly ? 
And what peculiar merit in the eye of heaven has America, that 
her rulers are to be invested .jvith infallibility ? 

But is it possible for a rational man to believe, that, had either 
governor Clinton or Mr. Monroe, or any one of a dozen or 
perhaps twenty citizens, who might be named, filled the station, 
its duties would not have been as well performed as they have 
been by Mr. Madison, in peace or in war? Surely not. 

I may be arrested here with the question, on the subject of 
these discussions — Cut bono ? The answer is plain. If these 
views be correct, the inference is clear, that the factious violence 
with which men of the same principles, who merely differ on the 
question of the comparative merits of two citizens, either of 
whom is perfectly adequate and worthy to fill an office about to 
be vacated, engage in hostility, is absurd, improper, and unjust. 

Since the chapter on caucuses, page 439, was written, an im- 
portant event has occurred in the state of Pennsylvania, which 
forms an era in the political history of this country. The pub- 
lic attention had been directed to the subject of legislative cau- 
cuses, of which the gross and manifest impropritcy had forced 
itself on the mind of the community. That they were pregnant 
with corruption, that they subjected the president or governor, 
as the case might be, who might be anxious lor a re-election, to 
the caprice of influential men in the legislature of the United 
States or of the individual states, was so plain and palpable as to 
force conviction on the most superficial observer. Prescription^ 
however, was in their favour. They had been sanctioned by 
early and uniform custom, in which the nation had acquiesced—- 
and, though offering violence to the fundamental principles of 
liberty, it was thought impracticable to applv any remedy. 
b. B, 60 



462 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 80. 

At length the good sense of the state aroused itself. And a 
determinatioa was formed, to apply a remedy to the evil. This 
remedy was suggested by the Board of Electors of president, 
which met at Harrisburg on the 5th of December, 1815. They 
published a recommendation to the citizens of the state, to ap- 
point delegates to attend a convention to be held at the same 
place on the 4th of the then ensuing March, for the sole purpose 
of nominating a candidate for the office of governor. 

To the honour of the state, this plan was, without any diffi- 
culty, generally adopted, and carried into effect, although pro- 
posed only three months before the time of its operation, and 
although in opposition to an inveterate practice. 

All the counties in the state were represented, except two or 
three of the most remote ones. Several of the counties authori- 
sed their representatives in the state legislature to act for them 
on the occasion— the others elected delegates for this express 
object. 

The whole number of members in the convention was 113, of 
whom 44 were senators and representatives, and 69 delegates j, 
specially chosen for this particular purpose. 

Thus is a great object attained. It cuts off a fertile source of 
intrigue and management. And it cannot be doubted, that it will 
be found advisable on future occasions to exclude from nomina- 
ting conventions the members of legislatures universally. 

The objections to the congress caucuses are infinitely more 
powerful than against those of state legislatures. Besides the 
vile spirit of domestic faction, intrigue, management, and cor- 
ruption, which they engender in common, the former have the 
additional disadvantage, that they open a door to foreign intrigue 
and corruption, far more deleterious. The voice of the nation 
ought to be elevated in one common concert, to consign them to 
oblivion. 

The present period is auspicious to such a determination. 
Three years and upwards will elapse before another presidential 
election takes place, an interval amply adequate to devise a plan 
calculated to obviate all the plausible reasons in favour of con- 
gressional caucuses, and all the objections that may be made to 
an innovation upon the usurped power of congress. 

Almost the only reason that has ever been assigned in favour 
of this usurpation is, that in any other mode it is impossible to 
concentrate the force of the party, or to secure the election of 
their candidate. 

Were this objection founded in truth, which is not the case, 
it has not sufficient weight to influence the minds of men of un- 
derstanding. The evils arising from congressional caucuses are 
far greater than those of any substitute that can be devised. 



CHAP. 81.] FACTION.. 4S3 



CHAPTER LXXXI. 

Faction. A most tronendoiis scourge. Cor7-iipts the lieart and 

bewilders the head. 

Of all the curses disgorged on mankind from Pandora's Box, 
there is hardly any worse in its consequences, than " faction." 
It is the fruitful parent of " legions'''* of calamities. Civil war, 
with all its horrors, marches in its train, and is its lineal and le- 
gitimate descendant. 

Faction is vitally destructive to purity of heart — to benevo- 
lence — to beneficence — to integrity — to human happiness. And 
the most lamentable feature in its character, is, that there are 
few, alas ! very few, who in times of fermentation are capable of 
withstanding its allurements. During the prevalence of faction, 
men in other points of sound minds and good hearts, become, 
in this respect, as stupid, as blind, as infatuated, and as sottish 
— as the tenants of bedlam — and likewise, frequently as hard- 
hearted and unfeeling as tigers. They yield themselves up as 
pliant and submissive victims to the will and pleasure of violent 
and wicked leaders. 

Its effects on the head are as deleterious as on the heart. A 
faction, headed by a few turbulent demagogues, although com- 
posed generally of men of integrity in private life, will frequent- 
ly perpetrate wickedness in company, which they would indivi=- 
dually shudder at with horror, and fly from with affright. 

It requires a slight knowledge of history, to produce nume- 
rous and striking cases in point. Short as is that of our nation, 
it affords us strong and admonitory examples. I shall therefore 
not travel from home, but shall sketch a few instances wherein 
both of the parties, federal and democratic, have been unduly 
influenced by the force of faction — that complication of folly 
and wickedness — that canker-worm, destructive equally to hu- 
man virtue and human happiness. 

The cause of France, in her late contest, was assuredly at the 
commencement one of the most noble that ever attracted the at- 
tention, or excited the sympathy of mankind. Heaven never 
smiled on a more glorious struggle. It was the cause of a 
mighty nation, ground to the earth by a most complicated an(l 
vexatious tyranny — a nation wherein 25,000,000 of human be- 
ings, were literally *' hewers of wood and drawers of water," to 
1, or 200,000 of the privileged orders. 

It were to compare the ravages of an otter or a fox with the 
desolation of a ruthless lion, or tiger, or panther-— the southern 
breeze with the West India hurricane — or the agitations of the 
Delaware with the overwhelming violence of the Mahlstrom 
— to compare the grievances of England in 1688, when she ex- 
pelled the Stuart Race, and called in the House of Brunswick--^ 



464 POLITICAL OUVE BKANGH. [£hap. 81. 

or the oppression of the American Provinces in 1775-6, when 
they threw off the yoke of Great Britain — to compare, I say, 
either of these with the awful state of France in 1789. 

Not to feel a deep, a lively interest in such a glorious cause, 
were to be grossly stupid, or greatly depraved. Well might 
Gen. Washington say with solemnity, when he received the 
French standard, from the minister of that nation, M. Adet, in 
the year 1796 : — 

" Born, sir, in a land of liberty ; having early learned its value ; having en- 
gaged in a perilous conflict to defend it; having, in a word, devoted the best 
years of my life to secure its permanent establishment in our own countrj- — 
my anxious recollections, my sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes, are 
irresistibly excited, whensoever, in any country, 1 see an oppressed nation un- 
furl the banners of freedom. But, above all, t/w events of the French rei'ulntion 
Juive produced the deepest solicitude, as well as the highest admiration. To call 
your nation brave, were to pronounce but common praise — Wonderfid people! 
Ages to come will read with astonishixvent the history of your brilliant ex- 
ploits. 

" I rejoice that the period of your toils and of your immense sacrifices is 
approaching ; I rejoice that the interesting rcvohitionary movements of so many 
years have issued in the formation of a constitution designed to give perma- 
nency to the great object for which you have contended ; I rejoice that liberty, 
which you have so long embi-aced with enthusiasm ; liberty, of which you have 
been the invincible defenders, now finds an asylum in the bosom of a regularly 
organized government — a government, which, being formed to secure the 
happine.ss of the French people, con-esponds with the ardent wishes of my 
heart, vvlulst it gratifies the pride of every citizen of the United States, by its 
resemblance to their own. On these glorious events, accept, sir, my sincere 
congratulations. 

*' In dcUvering to you these sentiments, I express not my own feelings oidy, 
but those of my fellow citizens, in relation to the commencemeyit , the progress, and the 
issue of the French revolution ,■ and they will cordially join with me in purest 
wishes to the Supreme Being, that the citizens of our sister republic, our magna- 
nimous allies, may soon enjoy in peace, that liberty which they have purchased 
at so great a price, and all the happiness which liberty can bestow. 

"I receive, sir, with lively sensibility, the symbol of the triuml)hs and of the 
enfranchisement of your nation, the colo%irs of Frajice, which you have now pre- 
sented to the United States. — The transaction will be announced to Congress ; 
and the colours will be deposited with those of the United States, which are. at 
once the evidences and the memorials of their freedom and independence -. 
May these be perpetual, and may the friendship of the two repubhcs be com- 
mensurate with their existence." 

With few exceptions, the American nation felt a profound in- 
terest in the holy struggle. She had freed herself from mana= 
cles. And she rejoiced that France was following the example, 
and shaking off her ponderous and galling fetters. Our hopes 
and our fears were as highly excited as if our own battles were 
fighting — as if our fate was about to be decided. This was per- 
fectly nirtural. It was highly honourable. 

But soon the prospect changed. The horizon was darkened. 
And over the fair scene which angels and archangels must have 
regarded with complaisance, were spread all the horrors that 
the furies and gorgons themselves could engender. To Fayette, 
Claviere, Roland, Vergniaud, Brissot, Condorcet,andGensonnet. 



CHAP. 81.] FACTION. 465 

succeeded Legendre, Danton, St. Just, Couthon, Marat, and 
finally Robespiere, demons incarnate, who appear to have had 
no delight but in human misery, and to have ravenously thirsted 
after blood and slaughter. 

The goddess of liberty when she first appeared 'on the shores 
of France, was pure and immaculate as an angel. She was then 
fairly entitled to the utmost veneration we bestowed on her. 
But her hands were early stained with blood. We overlooked 
her guilt in the magnitude of the object in view. Soon, however, 
she literally swam in blood. We nevertheless extenuated or 
defended these atrocious crimes — and almost appear to have be- 
lieved in the vile maxim, that " the end sanctifies the means.'''' 

While the succession of monsters preserved the name of 
" French republic, one and indivisible," the democrats clung to 
the cause most stedfastly. Faction blinded us to the mass of 
wretchedness that overspread the face of France. We palliated 
the noyades, the unprecedented fusillades, the slaughters at Ly- 
ons and elsewhere. It was a republic in name. That single word 
was enough to lull us asleep — to lender us blind, and deaf, and 
dumb to the mountains of misery endured vmder the pretended 
republic — which " exceeded in one year all that France had en- 
dured under the Bourbons in twenty." We lauded, and toasted, 
and belaurelled the murderous leaders, whose deeds spoke more 
of the hyaena, the panther, or the tiger, than of the human being. 
Our attachment remained, when the cause of the rulers of France 
• — it was no longer the cause of the nation — had become " a 
stench in the nostrils of heaven.'^ And every man who dared 
to doubt the justice and propriety of the murderous scenes ex- 
hibited in France, was denounced as a tory, or a monarchist. 

To these monsters succeeded Bonaparte. Ambitious, and 
unfeeling, and delighting in war, he was nevertheless not blood- 
thirsty. He did not slaughter his fellow men wantonly and for 
sport, as many of his predecessors had done. Compared Avith 
Danton, Marat, or Robespiere, he was an angel of light. But 
as he scorned to deceive the world by pretending to the form of 
a republic— as he assumed the style of a sovereign, we generally 
abandoned his cause. 

Again. When Jay's treaty was presented for ratification to 
General Washington, he was greatly embarrassed as to the 
course to be pursued. It was by no means perfectly satisfactory 
to him. He had weighty objections to many of its clauses. 
But an apprehension of war and its horrors, induced him, after 
the most solemn consideration, to adopt the measure of ratifica- 
tion. 

All the long and disinterested services of this patriotic and 
Ulustrious citizen were, with the mass of the democrats, effaced 



466 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. iJl. 

by this act, which, even if incorrect, could not, without gross 
and manifest injustice, be ascribed to sinister motives — but must 
have arisen from error in judgment. The thunderbolts of the 
•press were hurled at his fame : and all the merits of a seven 
years warfare — were obliterated. Many of the democrats have 
not recovered from the delusion to this day. 

The federalists have no reason to triumph over us for this 
folly and madness. They have displayed insanity, equal in de- 
gree, and still more pernicious in its consequences. 

While the ministers of Great Britain, with an odious mixture 
of injustice and folly, were harassing our commerce, and enslav- 
ing our seafaring citizens, with every aggravation of violence and 
outrage, faction blinded and deluded a large portion of the fede- 
ralists, as I have already fully detailed, to embarrass and cripple 
their own government, struggling not merely for the national 
rights, but for the most vital interests of those very federalists 
themselves. They scouted the idea of resisting the most abomi- 
nable practice of impressment — the greatest degradation and the 
most detestable outrage ever perpetrated by any civilized nation. 

Again. During the pressure of the late war, waged in defence 
of the most sacred rights of the nation, faction predominated 
over a great body of the federalists, particularly in the eastern 
states, to such a degree, that they were, as I have already stated, 
incomparably more formidable to the government than the em- 
battled legions of the enemy. I could mention individuals in 
Boston, who were more serviceable to Great Britain, than Ge- 
neral Ross, General Pakenham, General Prevost, Admiral War- 
ren, or Admiral Cockburn. Were I called upon to pronounce 
their names, I should unhesitatingly place in the foremost ranks, 
some of the apostles whose pulpits resounded with loud invoca- 
tions of " Moses and Aaron" — and who violated every senti- 
ment of Jesus Christ and his apostles, on the subject of govern- 
ment, to be found in the New Testament, in which there is 
not a single sentence, line, or word, to warrant the course they 
steered. 

The evils of faction are numberless. I shall, for the present, 
confine myself to one. 

It circumscribes the range of selection of candidates for 
public life to one portion of the community — and of course ex- 
eludes all the rest, however meritorious and useful they may be. 
Within the pale of the dominant party they must be selected. 
No degree of virtue or talents can afford the least chance of suc- 
cess out of that pale. Were a choir of angels and archangels 
to have assumed human form, and settled in Connecticut, they 
would not have been able, a few years since, to procure seats 
in congress, if they believed in democracy. Candidates profess- 



CHAP. 81] FACTION. Am 

ing " the pure principles of federalism,'' with very moderate en- 
dowments of head and heart, would triumph over them in an 
election contest. 

This folly is not peculiar to Connecticut or to federalism.: 
Pennsylvania and democracy are subject to the same censure. 
In parts of this state, angels or archangels, professing, or sus- 
pected of federalism, would be equally proscribed from all chance 
of public employment. 

The evil is not confined to candidates for public employment. 
As the number of these bears a small proportion to the mass of 
the community, if the influence of faction were limited to them, 
the evil would be of much less importance than it is at present. 
But it pervades every ramification of society, and sheds its. 
blasting poison on most of the comforts and enjoyments of life. 
And it too frequently happens that a conformity to the creed of 
the dominant party in any particular place, not virtue, nor ho- 
nour, nor talents, decides the standing or influence of individu- 
als. There are numberless instances of men of weak heads and 
bad hearts, as well as tarnished reputations, who are caressed 
and idolized by parties and factions, merely on the ground of 
their political opinions, while men as superior to them as Aris- 
tides was to Cleon, are put into Coventry. 

Libels against General Washington. 

During the effervescence of the public mind in the United 
States, on the subject of Jay's treaty, great importance was at- 
tached to the circumstance of its having received the sanction of 
general Washington, then president of the United States. This 
was regarded by vast numbers as a decisive reason for public 
acquiescence ; for such was their boundless confidence in the 
soundness of his judgment and in his political integrity, that they 
were satisfied he would not ratify any measure either unjust or 
pernicious. 

Under these circumstances a small club of ardent democrats 
in the city of Philadelphia, after a long debate on the subject, 
determined, to canvass the conduct and attack the character of 
the general, in order to destroy, or at least to impair the effect 
©f his support of that instrument. On this decision they stead- 
ily acted. Unceasing abuse was heaped on him. All his me- 
rits and services — all his disinterestedness — were entirely bu- 
ried in oblivion. 

This ill-advised measure was highly pernicious, and for a 
time ruinous to the party, and incalculably advantageous to their 
political opponents. 

The most violent and malignant enemy of the democrats 
could not have done them a more serious injury. It disgusted 



46S POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 81. 

and alienated from them vast numbers of their most zealous 
friends ; who duly appreciated the distinguished merits of gene-- 
ral Washington. In a certain degree it threw him into the arms 
of the federalists — and completely identified him with them. It 
operated as fatally on the democratic party, as the Hartford con- 
vention has recently done on the federalists. 

On the 5th of March, 1797, the day after the inauguration of 
Mr. Adams as president, in consequence of General Washing- 
ton declining to be a candidate, Benjamin Franklin Bache, edi- 
tor of the Aurora, published the following shameful and impoli- 
tic attack on the president, which fairly capped the climax of the 
long tissue of abusive publications against that great and good 
man. Dearly did the unfortunate editor pay for his folly. The 
patronage of his paper was reduced Avithin narrow limits. His 
subscribers withdrew by dozens — and he closed his career in 
considerable embarrassment — a career commenced under the 
most favourable auspices. On few men of his age did the sun 
ever rise more benignandy — but the setting, alas ! was overcast 
with deep gloom. 

Having said thus much, it would be extreme injustice did I 
not add, that few natives of Philadelphia ever excelled this amia- 
ble young man in all the qualities of head or heart that can ex- 
cite or repay esteem or regard. It was impossible to know him 
without admiring and esteeming him. He was a member of 
the club above mentioned, among whom were some men of ex- 
cessive violence. I am convinced, they overruled Mr. Bache, 
whose native mildness and urbanity, had they been allowed free 
scope, would have shut the Aurora against such rancorous and 
unfounded abuse. 

FROM A CORRESPONDENT. 

" Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace," was the pious ejacu- 
lation of a man who beheld a flood of happiness rushing in upon mankind. If 
ever there was a time that would license the reiteration of the exclamation, 
that time is now arrived ; for the man who is the source of all the misfortunes 
of our country, is this day reduced to a level with his fellow-citizens, and is no 
longer possessed of power to multiply evils upon the United States. If ever 
there was a period for rejoicing, this is the moment. Every heart in unison with 
the freedom and happiness of the people, ought to beat high with exultation, 
that the name of Washington ceases to give currency to political iniquity, and 
legalize corruption. A new era is now opening upon us, an era which promises 
much to the people ; for public measures must now stand upon their own me- 
rits, and nefarious projects can no longer be supported by a name. When a re- 
trospect is taken of the Washington administration for eight years, it is a 
subject of the greatest astonishment, that a single individual should have can- 
kered the principles of reimblicanism in an enlightened people, just emerged 
from the gulph of despotism, and should liave carried his designs against the 
public liberty so far as to have put in jeopardy its very existence. Such, how- 
ever, are the facts : and witli these staring us' in the face, this day ought to be 
a jubilee in the United States." 

March 5, 1797. 



CHAP. 82.] REJECTION OF MONROE'S TREATY. 469 

CHAPTER LXXXII. 

Rejection of the Treaty negociated by Messrs. Monroe and 
Pinkney. Bankruptcy of the Banks. 

There is no part of this work that has been so much censured 
by the democratic party, as the unqualified disapprobation of 
Mr. Jefferson's rejection, without consulting the senate, of the 
treaty negociated by Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney with the Bri- 
tish government. Many enlightened men among them regard 
this denunciation as highly improper and unjust. I have re- 
ceived from Mr. Jefferson a letter on the subject, in which he 
endeavours to convince me of my error. And it is but justice 
to this illustrious, estimable, and much-abused citizen, to com- 
municate his view of the subject to the public, that if I be 
wrong, he may have an opportunity of vindicating himself. 

Poplar Forest, near Lyncliburg, JVov. 11, 1816. 

Dear Sir, — I received here (where I pass a good deal of my time) your fa^ 
vour of Oct. 22, covering- a Prospectus of a new edition of your Olive Branch : 
I subscribe to it with pleasure, because I believe it has done and will do much 
good, in holding up tlie mirror to both parties, and exhibiting to both their 
political errors. That I have had my share of them, I am not vain enoug-h to 
doubt : and some indeed I have recognised. There is one, however, which I 
do not, although charged to my account in your book: and as that is the sub- 
ject of this letter, and I have my pen in my hand, I will say a very few words 
on it. It is my rejection of a British treaty without laying it before the Senate. 
It has never, I believe, been denied that the president may reject a treaty after 
its ratification has been advised by the senate. Then certainly he may before 
that advice : and if he has made up his mind to reject it, it is more respectful 
to the senate to do it without, than against their advice. It must not be said that 
their advice may cast new light on it. Their advice is a bald resolution of yea, 
or nay, without assigning a single reason or motive. 

" You ask if I mean to publish any thing on the subject of a letter of mine to 
my friend Charles Thompson ? Certainly not. I write nothing for publication : 
and lejst of all things, should it be on the subject of religion. On the dogmas of 
rehgion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the begin- 
ning of the world to this day, have been quarrelling, fighting, burning and 
torturing one another, for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all 
others, and absolutely beyond the comprcliension of the human mind. Were 
I to enter on that arena, I should only add an unit to the number of Bedlam' 
ites. Accept the assurance of my great esteem and respect, 

Mr. Mathew Cabey. TH: JEFFERSON. 

I have given this letter that due degree of consideration to 
which every thing emanating from so respectable a source is 
entitled. To whatever cause it may be owing ; whether to my 
perversity or to the want of cogency in its arguments, it has not 
altered my opinion. I still believe that the rejection of the treaty, 
without stibmitting it to the co-ordinate branch of the treaty 
making power, was manifestly wrong. 

It was treating Mr. Jefferson's own ministers very cavalierly, 

to use no stronger language. But this was by no means the 

most exceptionable feature of the transaction. It was treating 

with slight — perhaps I might add, with contempt, the govern- 

O. B. 61 



4r0 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 82." 

ment of a mighty nation, entitled, from its high rank among the 
European powers, to respect and attention. But the worst fea- 
ture remains. It indubitably quadrupled the chances of war, 
which ought to be studiously avoided by every fair and honour- 
able means — of which the issue is at all times precarious — and 
pre-eminently so between two nations, so unequally matched in 
point of resources, as the United States and England. 

But, Mr. Jefferson says, if a president "has made up his 
mind to reject [a treaty] it is more respectful to the senate, to 
do it without than against their advice." 

This does not appear to touch the real inerits of the question. 
If a president, indeed, be determined to reject a good treaty, 
then perhaps it would " be more respectful to the senate, to do it 
without than against their advice." But if the treaty be really 
so absolutely bad as to require rejection, it is not to be supposed, 
that the senate would advise its ratification. 

We therefore put entirely out of the question, as not supposa- 
ble, the case of a treaty wholly or principally pernicious to the 
public interest ; and ask. What course ought a president to adopt, 
who disapproves part of a treaty, of which the residue is satis- 
factory ? The path is plain. It has been distinctly delineated in 
the case of Jay's treaty. Ratify the part which is satisfactory— 
and submit the residue to further negociation. 

I cannot doubt that this will be the sentence pronounced by- 
history on this injudicious procedure. Were all the rest of my 
Book as correct as this, I should unhesitatingly dare the utmosl* 
malignity of criticism. 

Bankruptcy of the Banks. 

About the close of the month of August, 1814, the banks in 
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, and universally 
throughout the middle, southern, and western states, were im- 
periously driven to adopt a resolution to suspend the payment 
of specie. This measure, a virtual bankruptcy, had become in 
dispensibly necessary by the constant and enormous drains of 
specie to Boston. 

In the 53d chapter of this work, I have charged this calami- 
tous event, which has produced such ruinous consequences, to a 
factious, perhaps a treasonable combination, " to stop the wheels 
of government." A reconsideration of the subject has con- 
vinced me that I took a too confined view of it ; and that the 
ascription of this bankruptcy exclusively to the Boston conspi= 
racy, is the greatest error in the work. 

Let me not be understood to say, that no such conspiracy ex- 
isted, or that it was not highly influential in producing the bank- 
ruptcy of the banks. This would be a still greater error than 
the former. A formidable conspiracy did exist in Boston aiid 



-fcHAP.82.J BANKRUPTCY OF THE BANKS. 4^ 

elsewhere. This, I trust, is fully established, beyond the power 
of doubt or controversy, in the 53d chapter. Those who en- 
gaged in this conspiracy were powerful, influential, daring and 
energetic. They were guilty of a heinous offence, which in 
many countries would have subjected them to the severest sanc- 
tions of the criminal code. But the lenity of our constitution 
and our laws, and the imbecility of the administration, secured 
them from molestation. The extent of the conspiracy, and the 
audacity with which it was carried on, may be conceived from 
the strong circumstance, that those who lent money to the go- 
vernment were obliged to do it clandestinely. (See page 289.) 

But the imprudence of the banks in New York, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, the district of Columbia, and elsewhere, in subscrib- 
ing so immoderately to the government loans, was the grand 
source of an evil which has produced so much distress and ruin. 
It required the most transcendent folly for a bank to subscribe 
to nearly the whole amount of its capital stock, and thus increase 
its specie responsibility, so as to subject itself to the danger, and 
indeed almost to the absolute certainty, of bankruptcy, and to be 
at the mercy of any four or five very wealthy men, who might 
be disposed to make a run on it, and to drain it of its specie. 

I shall single out three of the banks established in Philadel- 
phia, and give a slight glance at the operation of the measure of, 
speculating in government stock, on the great scale to which it 
was extended by those institutions : 

/-, . .^ , Govenunent Stock otimed 
^"^''"^- in Dec. 1815. 

Bank of Pennsyhrania, §2,500,000 Sl'811,028 

Bank of Philadelphia, ' 1,800,000 275,000 

rarmers' and Mechanics' Bank, 1,250,000 844,892 



S 5,550,000 S 2,930,920 

A friend in Baltimore has furnished me with a statement of 
the extent to which the speculation in the government stock was 
carried by some of the banks in that city, which I annex. But 1 
wish the reader to observe that it is not official, and may not be 
as correct as the preceding one, which is taken from official do- 
cuments. The error, if any, I have reason to believe to be trivial. 

Capital. Govenunent Stock, 

Bank of Baltimore, % 1,200,000 § 1,000,000 

Union Bank, 2,200,000 900,000 

Commercial and Fanners' Bank, 750,000 450,000 

Mechanics' Bank, 750,000 500,000 

Marine Bank, 150,000 100,000 



% 5,050,000 S 2,950,000 

For every dollar of which they were liable to be called on for 
their notes, and of course subject to a demand of specie. Could 



^fi POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cbap. 82- 

such a thoughtless conduct lead to any other goal than bank- 
ruptcy? It may be fairly averred, that, considering the respe t- 
able character, and the sober, orderly demeanor of the majority 
of the directors of those institutions, there probably never oc- 
curred in any monied incorporation, a more extraoi'dinary or 
inconsistent procedure. 

Suppose a merchant, who conducts a business in which there 
is a due proportion between his engagements and his ways and 
means, at once to purchase or subscribe for government stock, 
to the full amount of one half, or two-thirds of his capital, which 
is principally invested in such a way that it cannot be withdrawn 
in season. Suppose him to issue notes for the amount of this 
purchase, for which payment may be demanded at the pleasure 
of the holder. Is there a possibility of his escaping bankruptcy? 

Such was the conduct and the situation of some of the banks 
in Philadelphia. Those in Baltimore, the district of Columbia, 
and New York, pursued the same system, and were involved in 
the same difficulties. It may therefore be averred, that though 
the conduct of the persons in Boston hostile to the government, 
who accelerated the bankruptcy of the banks, was highly crimi- 
nal, the culpability of the directors of those institutions was 
thereby nowise diminished. They sowed the seeds of bank- 
ruptcy in their institutions, which germinated rapidly, and pro- 
duced a copious harvest of ruin, which will be long deplored 
by the numerous victims who have fallen sacrifices to this mis- 
guided policy. 

It can hardly be doubted, that even without the conspiracy in 
Boston, the banks must have ultimately been obliged to stop the 
payment of specie. Such superabundant issues of paper have 
never failed to produce this effect. 

It has been said, in defence of the banks, that the loans they 
made the government were absolutely necessary to save the 
country from ruin. This is an inadmissible plea. These loans 
encouraged congress to continue the pernicious system of post- 
poning the imposition of taxes, which alone could support the 
credit of the government, or save the country. If, therefore, we 
could admit, that patriotic motives wholly influenced the banks 
to pursue this ruinous course of overtrading in those loans, 
which is inadmissible, we are reduced to the necessity of pay- 
ing a tribute to the hearts of the directors, at the expense of 
their heads. 



CHAP, 83] HARTFORD COlTV^ENTION, 4?3 



CHAPTER LXXXIII. 

Hartford Convention, 

The grand ostensible object of this convention was, to devise 
some eflfectual means of protecting trade and commerce against 
the deadly hostility displayed towards them by the anti-com- 
mercial I. e. the southern and western states. 

The mass of the people of the eastern states had been led, as 
is stated in a former part of this work, by a series of the most 
inflammatory and deceptious publications, to believe, that they 
were almost exclusively interested in commerce ; and that a sys- 
tematical plan had been pursued by the southern and western 
majorities in congress, to destroy it, for the purpose of impover- 
ishing them : and thus the most violent animosity had been ex- 
cited in the eastern states against their southern and western 
brethren, by the unfounded and often repeated accusation, that 
the latter were hostile to the former. 

That these contemptible opinions should have ever gained 
ground among a people so intelligent and enlightened as the 
yeomanry of the eastern states, who are inferior to those of no 
nation in the world, was, even cotemporaneously, a matter of as- 
tonishment to every man of the most superficial observation. 
But the astonishment must be increased a thousand fold, by a 
reflexion on the relative state of the commerce of the United 
States, as recently developed by the public documents. 

The object, I repeat, was, to protect commerce from southern 
and western hostility. Virginia was regarded as a species of 
political anti-commercial planet, round which the other anti- 
commercial states revolved as satellites, and by which their 
movements were regulated. 

Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia, were among those 
anti-commercial states. New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode 
Island, and Connecticut, were four of the five " great commer- 
cial states,'' forming component parts of " the Nation of New- 
England," to use the inflated, bombastic, and gasconading phrase- 
ology of the day. 

Let us calmly examine the ground on which this sublime, 
this profound idea rested. Let us compare the exports of those 
commercial and anti-commercial states. 

No. 1. 

Exports ^foreign and domestic ^ 1816. 

New Hampshire . . , g 140,293 

Vermont - - . - 892,594 

Massachusetts - . . . 10,136,439 

Rhode Island ... . 612,794 

Connecticut - . - . . 593,806 

-12,375,926 



474 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 83- 

Maryland . - - . - 7,338,767 

Virginia -...-■ 8,212,860 

District of Columbia . - - - 1,680,811 

North Carolina . - - - - 1,328,735 

South Carolina ... - 10,849,4^9 

Georgia .-.--- 7,511,929 

Louisiana ----- 5,602,948 



-42,525,459 

It is impossible to regard this table without the most profound 
amazement at the folly, to call it by no harsher name, of those 
■who could for a moment be blinded by such absurd and frivo- 
lous pretences. Histoiy presents no instance of more miserable 
insanity — insanity on which measures were predicated, preg- 
nant with perdition to our union, to our peace, to our happiness — 
insanity which had nearly bestowed on us, and bequeathed to 
our posterity, the tremendous gift of Peloponnesian, Social, 
Ked-and-white-rose, and Guelph-and-Ghibelin wars. 

Rhode Island, with a population of 76,931, and an export oi 
S 600,000, sitting in grand convention, to guard the interests of 
commerce against the machinations of Virginia, with a population 
of 974,622, and an export of S8,000,000, must be an object of at- 
tention to an admiring world ! She has really acquired immor- 
tal honour by this grand exploit. It would not be more absurd 
or irrational for a skipper of Boston or Philadelphia to petition 
for the protection of commerce, the former against the machina- 
tions of William Gray, the latter against those of Stephen Girard. 

Cicero is reported to have said that it was wonderful how the 
Roman augurs could regard each other in the face without down- 
right laughter at the deception of the trade they carried on. — 
And it is difficult to conceive how a Rhode Island delegate- 
could look in the face of his colleague, or of the New Hamp- 
shire delegate, without producing a similar effect. The worthy 
delegate from New Hampshire, which state exported §140,000 ia 
1816, must cast a retrospective eye on this portion of his poli- 
tical career, with feelings very far from comfortable. He would 
surely wish the memorable event of the meeting of this conven- 
tion, were buried in eternal oblivion. If he form a fair esti- 
mate of political character, he would purchase, at an immense 
price, were it possible, the erasure from the tablets of history, 
of the part he has acted in this political drama. 

In the preceding table of exports I have given the v/hole 
amount of foreign as well as domestic articles. This does not 
place the argument in the strongest point of light. It must be 
obvious, that the substantial interests of a country are more pro- 
moted by the exportation of twenty millions, of native produc- 
tions, than by that of thirty millions of foreign articles. The 
former may be said to be almost all clear gain to the exporting 
nation : whereas from the latter it derives merely the freight 
and profit — of Avhich the second item is frequently very slight. 



CHAP. 83.] STATISTICS. 47i>" 

In order, therefore, to evince move completely the transcen- 
dent t'olly and arrogance of the pretensions of the eastern states 
— and their comparative commercial insignificance, I submit a 
few tables, confined wholly to domestic articles : — 



New Hampshire, 
Vermont, 
Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, 


Domestic Exports^ 1816. 
No. 2. 


S 119,486 
892,594 

5,008,974 
418,996 
587,007 




S, 7,027,057 


Georgia, 


S 7,436,692 



Thus it appears, that of domestic productions, which are the 
bone and marrow of the commerce of a nation, the single state 
of Georgia exported more than the whole of " the nation of New 
England" — notwithstanding that this " nation," in its exports, 
included a large amount of cotton, rice, and other southern pro- 
ductions. 

No. 3. 

"The nation of New England," (see No. 2) - . §7,027,057 

Maryland, - . . . . g 4,834,490 

Virginia, ..... 8,115,890 

District of Columbia, ... 1,555,572 

North Carolina, - . - . . 1,328,271 

South Carolina, .... 10,446,213 

• Georgia, ...... 7,436,692 

Loui^ana, ..... 5,251,833 



-38,968,961 



No. 4. 



The single port of New Orleans has exported fifty times as 
much as New Hampshire ; nearly six times as much, as Ver- 
mot>t; twelve times as much as Rhode Island; above eight 
times as much as Connecticut; and somewhat more than Mas- 
sachusetts. 

New Orleans, ,-.... ;j5 5,251,833 

New Hampshire, - - _ . g 119,486 

Vermont, ...... 892,594 

Massachusetts, .... 5,008,974. 

Rhode Island, ..... 418,995 

Connecticut, ...... 587,00r 

^-7,027,057 

No. 5. 

The district of Columbia, of ten miles square, expor ted forty 
per cent, more than New Hampshircj Rhode Island, j md Con- 
necticut. 



4?6 POUTICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [cbap. 8a. 

Columbia, ... ... g 1,555,572 

New Hampshire, .... g 119,486 

Rhode Island, . . . . . 418,996 

Connecticut, - - , - . 587,007 

1,125,489 

No. 6. 

South Carolina has exported twice as much as, and Georgia 
fifty per cent, more than, Massachusetts. 

South Carolina, .--,..§ 10,446,213 
Georg-ia, ....... 7,436,692 

Massachusetts, --..-. 5,008,974 

No. 7. 

Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana, have ex- 
ported almost four hundred and fifty per cent, more than all the 
eastern states. 

Virginia, ..... g 8,115,890 

South Carolina, ..... 10,446,213 
Georgia, ..... 7,436,692 

New Orleans, - . - . . 5,251,833 

31,250,628 

Five eastern states, . - - . . 7,027,057 

These statements fully display the transcendent superiority of 
the commerce of the southern states over that of " the nation of 
New England," in domestic productions. That in those articles 
they have a superiority over all the rest of the union, was never 
suspected. But it is, nevertheless, true. 

No. 8. 

" The nation of New England," (No. 2) . , g 7,027,057 

New York, ....... 14,168,291 

New Jersey, ...... 9,746 

Pennsylvania, ...... 4,486,329 

Delaware, ...... 54,685 



Eastern and middle states, . . . . g 25,746,108 

Southern States, (No. 3) .... g 38,968,961 

Thus it appears that the domestic exports of the southern 
states are above fifty per cent, beyond those of all the rest of 
the union. 

I shall conclude these overwhelming statements, with one still 
more striking. 'I'he whole of the exports of " the nation of New 
England," of foreign and domestic articles, including cotton, 
rice, tobacco, naval stores, &c. derived from the southern states, 
was, in 1816, as we have seen, (No. 1) only g 12,375,928 

Whereas, of domestic articles alone, the exports 
from Georgia and Louisiana were, 

Georgia, ... 7,436,692 

Louisiana, - - . 5,251,833 

12,688,525 



CHAP. 84.] STATISTICS. 47? 

Thits^ the wonderful fact appears hicontestible, that Georgia 
and Louisiana exported^ in the year \&\Q>^ more doinestic produc- 
tions^ than " the nation of New England'''' exported zvithin the 
same period, of every description, foreign a?id domestic ! ! ! 

Reader, ponder well on these strong facts — and then answer 
this simple question — Has the world ever witnessed more tran- 
scendent folly than the eastern states have displayed in assem- 
bling a convention at Hartford, to guard the interests of com- 
merce against the hostility of the southern states, at the risque of 
civil war and all its horrors ? 

Import Duties. 

On the subject of the import duties paid by the different 
states, there was a great clamour excited, and the mass of the 
people of the eastern states were thoroughly satisfied, that they 
bore almost the whole expense of the government, their south- 
ern brethren contributing but little towards it. I annex two 
tables of the duties on imports for the year 1815. 

Georgia paid more duties than the four minor eastern states. 

Georg'ia, - - - - . . . g 882,453 

New Hampshire - - . . . 92,316 

Vermont --.-.. 228,957 

Rhode Island ..... 233,024 

Connecticut - - - - - .' 233,683 

787,980 

The southern states paid twenty-five per cent, more than the 
eastern, exclusive of the duties really paid by them on foreign 
goods bonded to the eastward, and consumed to the southward. 

Maryland, - . - . . . g 4,050,504 

Virginia, ..... 1,226,404 

Columbia, -....„ 482,'426 

North Cai-olina, ..... 345,204 

South Carolina, ..... 1,429,498 

Georgia, ..... 882,453 

Louisiana, ...... 984,909 



Four minor eastern states, as above, - - g 787,980 

Massachusetts, ..... 5,771,667 



■9,401,398 
I 

r 

7,559,647 



CHAPTER LXXXIV. 

Freedom of the seas. Prophets. Sedition. Opposition to the 

XV ar. Jury Trial. 

The hallucinations of minds of respectable grade, are in manv 
cases wholly inexplicable, and excite astonishment. C. C. Brown, 
a writer of very considerable celebrity, published " an address to 
congress," in Philadelphia, anno 1803, in which he openly avow- 
ed the monstrous and absurd theory, that England had just the 
same right to exclude us from, as we had to navigate, the ocean; 
that our conduct to Great Britain and France, flowed from the 

O. B. 62 



478 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 84- 

same source as theirs towards us ; that vessels unemployed were, 
worse than vessels captured or shipwrecked; and that the real 
law of nations is, that each must enrich and aggrandize itself by 
all the means in its power. These crude and absurd ideas were 
delivered with as much solemnity as so many responses of the 
Delphic Oracle. They form the sum and substance — the pith 
and marrow, of a prolix pamphlet of above ninety pages. 

Prophets, 

In all ages, prophets have been highly gratified to have their 
predictions fulfilled— and, so far as lay in their power, have ge- 
nerally spared no pains to effect their accomplishment. Of this 
propensity the United States have exhibited several instances. I 

cite one. 

Some of the high-toned federalists, about the time of the for- 
mation of the federal constitution, ridiculed, as the quintessence 
of political absurdity— as transcendently Utopian — the idea of 
its being practicable to give permanency to the republican form 
of government in so extensive a country as the United States. 
They pitied the folly, or detested the wickedness of the attempt. 
Some of these gentlemen in Boston and elsewhere have made 
great exertions, to secure the verification of their predictions.—' 
Thank heaven they have been disappointed. 

Sedttioji. 

Although I have given numerous instances of the seditious 
spirit that prevailed in the eastern states, during and subsequent 
to the embargo, yet it can hardly be unacceptable to the reader 
to put a few more on record, in order more fully to evince the 
dangerous nature of the precipice from which we have escaped. 

A memorial to the legislature of Massachusetts, presented by 

the citizens of the town of Hadley, contains the following very 

significant paragraph. 

" Resolved, that in our opinion, a perseverance in that deadly hostility to 
commerce, which, we believe, derives its orig-in and its vigour from a deep 
rooted ji-alousy of the eastern states, will inevitably lead to a DISSOLUTION 
OF TIIK UXION. And thoiig-h we most sincerely deprecate such an event, 
j'et we cannot suppress our fears, that the time is at iiand, wlien A SEPARA- 
TION OF THESE STATES will be enforced by the most irresistible of all 
motives— SELF-PRESERVATION ! !" 

The citizens of Boston at the same period, passed the follow- 
ing among other resolves. 

"Resolved, that we will not voluntarily aid or assist in the execution of the 
act passed on the ninth of this month, for enforcing- the several embargo laws : 
and that all those who sliall assist in enforcing upon others the arbitrary and 
unconstitutional provisions of this act, ought to be considered as enemies to 
the Constitution of the United States, and hostile to the liberties of this peo- 
ple!!" 



CHAP. 84.] JURY TRIAL. 4,79 

At a meeting of the inhabitants of the County of Hampshire 
in Massachusetts, a number of inflammatory resokitions were 
passed, of which the tenor may be calculated from the following. 

" Resolved, that causes are continually occurring', which tend to produce a 
?nost calamitous event — a dissolution of the umon." 

On the 5th of August, 1812, a meeting was held in Castine, 
at which the following resolutions among others were passed :— 

" Resolved, that we do not hold ourselves bound in honour or patriotism, vo- 
luntarily to enlist in the army destined tor foreign conquest : but that we will 
not lag behind any of our fellow -citizens in resisting and repelling invasion of 
our rights, our liberty, or our country. 

" Resolved, that we contemplate with pleasure the patriotic spirit which 
animates the friends of peace throughout the United States ; and that we hail 
it as kindred to the spirit of 1775." 

How far the pompous pledge given in the first resolution, 
was redeemed, the unresisted invasion and conquest of Castine, 
afforded a handsome illustration. 

Opposition to the War. 

Although the late war declared against Great Britain was as 
just as any war ever waged, yet those who opposed the declara- 
tion to the very last stage, can offer very strong arguments in 
their defence. The issues of wars are so totally uncertain — so 
many nations have been utterly ruined by them — and the divi- 
sions of our citizens were so inveterate and deep rooted — that 
men of the purest hearts and clearest heads, might well hesitate 
before they would consent to pass the Rubicon, even though they 
might be well satisfied that the accumulation of injury heaped 
on this country, had warranted a recourse to the ultima ratio at 
a much earlier stage of aggression. 

But what justification can be offered for those who, after war 
was declared by a respectable majority — after it had become the 
law of the land — while the nation was in jeopardy of its exist- 
ence — while deep perdition stared their country in the face, 
continued to embarrass and enfeeble, and endeavoured to stran- 
gle that government which was the sole barrier between them 
and anarchy, and civil war, on the one hand — and subjugation 
by a foreign foe on the other ! When they cast a retrospective 
eye on their infatuation and delusion, they must be preyed on by 
the deepest regret and remorse. 

yury Trial. 

James Ross, an eminent lawyer of Pittsburg, was, many years 
since, the federal candidate for governor of the state of Penn- 
sylvania. Some of his opponents circulated a malicious and ly- 
ing report, to ruin his character, that he had administered the 
sacrament to a dog. This excited a deadly hostility against him, 
among the sober and religious part of his fellow citizens— lost 
him many friends — and increased the ardour and the energy of 
his enemies. 



4Sa PdUTICAL OLIVE BRA^XH. [chap. 85. 

The report was traced to some individual whose name I do 
not recollect. Mr. Ross sued him for damages. After all the 
vexatious and irritating delay that chicane can contrive, the case 
finally came before a jury. A verdict was given against the de- 
fendant — with damages. And how much damages, reader, 
would you suppose ? You might guess for a dozen years, be- 
fore you could guess the exact sum. It was, to the best of my 
recollection, six cents. I write from memory, having mislaid the 
account of the trial : but I am confident it was below a dollar ! 

So much for our boasted trial by jury. 

CHAPTER LXXXV. 

Self -created Societies. Merit unrewarded. Compensation Law. 

The proceedings of parties and factions, however different 
their principles, views, and professions, bear a wonderful ana- 
logy to each other, when placed in similar circumstances. Those 
who possess power, strain every nerve, too often regardless of 
right or wrong, to preserve it. Those who are divested of it, too 
generally use every possible means to acquire it, equally regard- 
less of justice. 

During the inflammation of the public mind, excited by the 
then recent French revolution, and the art and address of M. 
Genet, the democratic party, then in a minority, established de- 
mocratic societies, which, by their affiliations in every ramifica- 
tion of the United States, were intended, and expected, by co- 
operation, to overawe the administration, to dismount their an- 
tagonists, and to enable the leaders to vault into the vacant sad- 
dles. This effect they would indubitably have produced, but that 
they were denounced by General Washington, and both houses 
of congress, as having been implicated in encouraging the oppo- 
sition to the general government, which, finally, led to the west- 
ern insurrection. This was a mortal stroke to them, and totally 
enfeebled them thenceforward. 

General Washington, after detailing the various steps that led 
to the final explosion, states, in his address to congress, anno 
1794— 

" From a belief that by a more formal concert, the operation of the excise 
laws might be defeated, certain self-created Societies assumed the tone of con- 
demnation. Hence, while the g'rcater part of Pennsylvania were conforming' 
themselvesto the acts of excise, a few counties were resolved to prostrate them." 

To this the senate replied — 

" Our anxiety, arising- from the licentious and open resistance to the laws, in 
the western counties of Pennsylvania, has been increased by tlic proceedings 
of certain self-created Societies, relative to the laws and administration of the 
government ; proceedings, in our apprehension, founded in political error, cal- 
culated, if not intended, to disorganize our government, and which, by inspir- 
ing delusive hopes of support, have been influential in misleading our fellow 
citizens in the scene of msurrection." 



CHAP. 85. J SELF-CREATED SOCIETIES. 481 

The denunciation of the house of representatives, was not 
quite so unequivocal. It excited an ardent debate, and was great- 
ly softened down : 

" We learn, with the greatest concern, that any misrepresentations what- 
ever, of the government and its proceedings, either by individuals, or combina- 
tions of7nen, should have been made, and so far credited, as to foment the fla- 
grant outrage which has been committed on the laws." 

General Washington expressed his utter disapprobation of 
those societies much more pointedly in his letters to his friends : 

" The real people," he says, " occasionally assembled, in order to express 
their sentiments on political subjects, ought never to be confounded with per- 
manent, self-appointed Societies, usurping the riglit to conti'oul the constituted 
authorities, and to dictate to public opinion. While the former was entitled to 
respect, the latter was incompatible with all government, and must either sink 
into general disesteem, or finally overturn the established order of things." 

To Mr. Jay,thennegociatingin London, he wrote as follows ; 

" That the self-created Societies, who have spread themselves over this coun- 
try, have been labouring incessantly to sow the seeds of distrust, jealousy, 
and, of course, discontent, hoping thereby to effect some revolution in the go- 
vernment, is not unknown to you. That they have been the fomenters of the 
western disturbances, admits of no doubt in the mind of any one who will ex 
amine their conduct. But, fortunately, they have precipitated a crisis, for which 
they were not prepared ; and thereby have unfolded views which will, I trust, 
effect their annihilation much sooner than itmight have happened. An occasion 
has also been afforded for the people of this country to show their abhorrence 
of the result, and their attachment to the constitution and the laws ; for I be- 
lieve, that five times the number of militia that were required, would have 
come forward in support of them, had it been necessary."! 

The Washington Benevolent Societies owe their origin to the 
same lust of power that engendered the Democratic Societies. 
They were intended, like those democratic societies, to give an 
undue influence to the members beyond what their numerical 
force entitled them to. And the advantages of concert and co- 
operation are so great, that wherever they are established, they 
cannot fail to produce this effect. 

The time and place of their birth are considerably against 
them. They originated in Boston, at a period when that town 
was the grand focus of disaffection and sedition — when " Moses 
and Aaroii^'' were invoked to lead " the oppressed Israelites'''' un- 
der the standard of rebellion, to a " new region,'' to " Mount 
Carmel." And the prime agents in all these rebellious move- 
ments were among the leaders of the W^ashington Benevolent 
Societies — leaders whose views and proceedings were as diame- 
trically opposite to the holy admonitions of Washington, as light 
is opposite to darkness. 

That among the Washington Benevolent Societies are to be 
found thousands of the best citizens in the United States' — • 

* Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. v. page 592. 
f Idem, page 593. 



4S2 POLITICAL OLIVJ^ BRANCH. [chap. 85, 

that the objects of those citizens are perfectly pure — that they 
would shudder with horror at the idea of any illegal act, I most 
unhesitatingly admit. — But there cannot be a doubt, that when- 
ever the views of such societies embrace political operations, 
as they almost universally do, they are to be regarded with 
great watchfulness and jealousy. They are liable to every pos- 
sible objection ever made against the Democratic Societies. 

Merit unrewarded. 

That congress, the proper organ of the gratitude and liberali- 
tv of the nation, has not discharged the debt due to many illus- 
trious individuals, whose talents and patriotism powerfully aid- 
ed in saving this country, is a truth which, however it may be 
regretted, cannot be controverted. The instances are unfortu- 
nately but too numerous. 

The defence of Baltimore, and the defeat of the British there, 
were among the most fortunate circumstances of the war. Had 
the enemy succeeded, Philadelphia would probably have fallen 
the next victim — and the war might have been prolonged for 
another year, with the most calamitous results at home and 
abroad. To the success there, major Armistead, who cominand- 
ed Fort M'Henry, and lieutenant Webster, who commanded a 
six gun battery, mainly contributed. The best judges of the 
state of the case, are of opinion, that but for the noble efforts of 
skill and bravery displayed by lieutenant Webster, the British 
would very probably have succeeded. With his six guns, and 
about forty men, he kept up such a destructive fire upon them, 
as finally induced them to abandon the enterprize. 

It is painful to state, that neither of these citizens has receiv- 
ed from the government of the United States any remuneration 
for their brilliant and most useful services, of which it has hard- 
ly taken any notice whatever. 

A few public spirited individuals in Baltimore subscribed to- 
ward the purchase of a handsome piece of plate for major Ar- 
mistead, and a sword for lieutenant Webster — and thus ends the 
sorry tale of gratitude for such important services ! ! 

Lieutenant Webster was induced, by the advice of some of 
his friends, to establish a grocery store in the centre of Balti- 
more, and calculated upon the patronage of a city to which he 
had rendered such substantial services. He has been disappoint- 
ed even in those moderate expectations, and a few weeks since 
was closing his concerns after the much-to-be-regretted failure 
of his experiment. 

Coynpensation Larv. 
Few circumstances have occurred of late years more discre- 
ditable to the nation, as well as to its representatives, than the 
proceedings respecting the compensation law. 



CHAP. 85.] OOIMPENSATION LAW. 483 

The wages of congress were fixed, on the organization of the 
government, at six dollars per day. They remained stationary, 
so far as respects the house of representatives, from that period 
till the operation of the law which iorms the subject of this dis- 
cussion. 

A factious clamour was raised by the democrats against the 
extravagance of the compensation, with a view of rendering un- 
popular the federalists who had passed the six dollar law. The 
clamour was nearly as great as that raised against the recent 
compensation law. But as it was founded in soi'did and sinis- 
ter motives, it gradually subsided. The public acquiesced in the 
propriety of the wages. 

Twenty- eight yeairs have since elapsed. Money has greatly 
depreciated in value. Some articles advanced 20, 30, 40, and 
50 per cent in price. And some might be pointed out, of which 
the price is doubled. Superfine cloths are among the number. 

It would be waste of time, and indeed an insult to the reader, 
to undertake to prove the necessity, under these circumstances, 
of increasing the compensation of the members of congress. It 
is self evident. 

This being assumed, the only real question on the subject is, 
whether the increase were too great, or otherwise. 

In forming a fair estimate of the proper amount of compensa- 
tion for any species of service, public or private, it requires to 
be regulated by a compound ratio of the value of the time be- 
stowed — the situation of the parties — the sacrifices they make — 
the compensation for similar or other services — and the expense 
of living. 

$■ Applying all these tests to the law in question, it can be un- 
answerably defended. 

There are large and important classes of citizens, embracing 
no small proportion of the persons suitable for the situation of 
members of congress, whom the amount of the compensation 
which has afforded ground for so much factious clamour, or even 
double that amount, would not adequately pay for the sacrifices 
they would make, by accepting seats as members of congress. 
I mean first-rate lawyers, doctors, and merchants. W hat com- 
pensation, for instance, would 1500 dollars per annum be to 
Mr. Wirt, Mr. Pinkney, or Mr. Emmet; to Dr. Wistar, Dr. 
Physick, or Dr. Monges ; or to Wm, Gray, Mr. Willing, Mr. 
Ralston, or Mr. Girard.* 

• There is frequently a considerable difficulty in prevailing' on suitable per- 
sons to stand candidates for congress in our capital cities. I was, some years 
since, a member of a committee appointed to wait on sundry g'entlemen who 
were contemplated as candidates. We consulted four in succession, who de- 
clined. This was the year in which Mr. Clay was first elected. He was the 
fifth gentleman applied to ; agreed to become a candidate ; and was success- 
ful. He was at the time a clerk in the bank of North America. 



484 



POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. 



[chap. 85 



In order to enable the reader to form a correct idea on the 
execrated compensation of the members of congress, I annex a 
statement of the compensations given to sundry officers, some un- 
der the general government, and some in a few other situations. 



Secretary of State's office. 
Secretary - - - ' 

Chief clerk 

Second . - - 

Third 
Four others, each 

Treasury department. 
Secretary - - - 

Chief clerk 

Second ... 

Two others, each 
Fifth 
Sixth 

Comptroller's office. 
Comptroller 

Chief and second clerk, each 
Third and fourth, each 
Fifth 

Sixth and seventh, each 
Eighth and ninth, each - 

Auditor's office. 
Auditor ... 

Principal clerk - 
Second ... 

Four others, each 
Tliree others, each - 
One 

Register s office. 
Register ^ . . 

Chief clerk 

Second ... 

Third and fourth, each - 
Fifth 
Sixth 
Three others, each - 

Treasurer's office. 
Treasurer - - - 

First clerk 

Second - • 

Third 

General Land office. 
Commissioner 
First clerk 

Second ... 

Three others, each 

War department. 
Secretary ... 
Chief clerk 
Second ... 



§5000 
2000 
1500 
1350 
1150 

§5000 
2000 
1650 
1500 
1400 
1300 

S3500 
1500 
1300 
1100 
1088 
1000 

jgSOOO 
1600 
1300 
1150 
1100 
1000 

§3000 
1766 
1516 
1450 
1400 
1066 
1000 

§3000 

iroo 

1300 
1240 

§3000 
J 600 
1100 
1050 

§4500 
1600 
1430 



Third and fourth, each - § 1300 

Seven others, each - - 1000 

Paymaster's office. 

Paymaster general - - S 2500 

Chief clerk - - 1840 

Second ^ . - 1495 

Third - - - 1250 

Fourth - - - 1200 

Fiftli - - - 1150 

Three others, each - 1100 

Five others, each - - 1009 

Accountant's office. 

Two accountants, each - § 2000 

Two clerks, each - - 1600 

Four others, each - 1300 

Seventh - - - 1200 

Four others, each - 1150 

Twelfth - - - 1050 

Three others - - 1000 

Supenntcndant' s office. 

Superintendant - - §3000 

Chief clerk - - 1600 

Second - - - 1200 

Third - - - 1000 

Secretary ofJVavy's office. 

Secretary - - - §4500 

Chief clerk - - 2000 

Second - - - 1300 

Third and fourth, each . 1200 

JSTuvy Commissioners' office. 

Three commissioners, each • § 3500 

Secretary - - 2000 

Three clerks, each - - 1000 

.iccountant ofJVavy's office. 



Accoimtant - 

First clerk 

Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Three others, each 

Five others, each 

General Post oj 
Postmaster genei'al 
First assistant 
Second do. 
Book-keeper 
Assistant 
Six clerks, each 
Three others, each 



ice. 



Mayor of the City of Philadelphia . . . - 

President of the Bank of Pennsylvania . - - 

Casliier of do. - - - - . . ^ . 

Governor of the State - - - 

Secretary .....-- 

Speaker of the Senate, should he exercise the office of Governor 
Chief Justice Supreme Court (and §4 per day while on circuit) 



§2300 
1600 
1320 
1280 
1120 
1060 
1000 

§3000 
1700 
1600 
1300 
1100 
1200 
1000 

§3000 
4000 
4000 
5333 
1333 
3333 33 
2666 67 



LHAP. 85,] COIMPENSATION LAW. 485 

Assistant Judges - - 1600 Secretary of the Land office 1333 33 

and §4 per day, while on Receiver general of Land 



circuit. Oihce 

Treasurer - - - 1333 33 Comptroller General - 2133 33 
Surveyor General - 1333 33 Register General - 1333 33 

Let it be observed that the salaries of the above officers of 
the state of Pennsylvania were fixed anno 1791, when money 
was from 1 7 to 20 per cent, more valuable than at present. 

A careful exa.mination of the above cannot fail to satisfy any 
man whose mind is open to conviction, that the obnoxious com- 
jjensation was no more than reasonable ; and that the outcry 
against it was, as I have stated, factious, or the result of a beg- 
garly spirit of economy, discreditable to the nation, of which 
every man who has its honour at heart, must feel deeply 
ashamed. 

The most injurious of the consequences of the miserable 
clamour against this law, was, that some of the most valuable 
members of congress fell into such discredit with their constitu- 
ents, as to be superseded by rival candidates. Among the mem- 
bers who shared this fate, there is probably none who ought to 
be more regretted than Mr. Hurlbut, a federalist, of Massa- 
chusetts, a gentleman of considerable talents, and remarkable for 
fairness and candour, qualities of inestimable value in a public 
character. 

It may seem extraordinary, at the first glance, that while the 
people of the United States are regarded as deserving severe 
censure for the factious outcry excited against this law, the pro- 
ceedings of congress on this subject, at its last session, are deem- 
ed -equally deserving of reprobation. Nothing has occurred 
in the variegated annals of that body much more reprehensi- 
ble. Never was time more wretchedly spent — never talents 
more misemployed. It is not improbable that a third or a 
fourth part of the session was prostituted to, I had nearly said, 
never-ending debates on the repeal of this act. Almost every 
member capable of making a speech, filled two, three, four, or 
five columns of the newspapers, until the public was disgusted 
not more with the act than with its defenders and opposers. 
The subject might have been compressed within the compass of 
a nutshell. Any man of tolerable talents might have exhausted 
all that was v/orth hearing on either side of the question in three 
hours. And, had congress possessed the firmness that becomes 
such a body, it would have scouted the idea of a repeal — and, 
had it a due sense of its own dignity, it would have decided the 
question in two or three days. 

When regard is had to the number of all-important laws 
which might have been enacted in the time thrown away on this 
paltry subject, the folly displayed on it must be a subject of deep 
and lasting regret. 
O, B. 63 



Clerk - . . - 


gsooo 


Second clerk - - ■ 


1800 


Four other clerks (each) 


1500 


Serjeant at arms - ^ 


1500 


Doorkeeper 


1500 


Assistant doorkeeper 


- 1450 



486 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH, [chap. 86. 

There are some of the salaries paid by the United States' 
government, that are still more striking cases in point than any 
of those I have given : 

Senate. House of Representatives. 

Secretary - - - gSOOO "' " 
Principal clerk - - 1800 

Two engrossing clerks (each) 1500 
Serjeant at arms - - 1500 
Deputy Door-keeper - 1450 

What a triumph will it afford in Europe to those who hate 
and aifect to despise this country, to be able to state, that the 
whole nation has for two years been kept in a state of commo- 
tion and ferment, because the members of the legislature of the 
union dared to fix their own salaries at the same rate as those 
of clerks, Serjeants at arms, and doorkeepers ! It is really inex- 
pressibly mortifying to reflect on the subject. 

It is not worth while to offer anv argument derived from the 
heavy expense of living at Washington, where board and lodg- 
ing are probably twice as high as at the seat of government in 
any of the eastern or middle states. A rational man need not 
take this point into consideration to enable him to decide the 
question. 

Seamen, 

The clamour made by the British government on the subject 
of the seduction of their seamen, has hardly ever been exceeded 
in point of inconsistency. To a superficial observer it might 
appear that Great Britain was guiltless of enticing or receiving 
the seamen of any other nation — and that her fleets were wholly 
manned with her own subjects. This inference would be per- 
fectly natural — because on no other ground could she be war- 
ranted in the remonstrances she made against the admission of 
her seamen on board our vessels. But the astonishing fact is, 
that in war, she has generally more foreigners than natives in 
her service. The following is a statement of the relative pro- 
portions of each, for three years. 

Natives. Foreigners. 
I80r - - - 42,000 43,000 

1808 - - - 29,000 43,000 

1810 - , - 34,000 58,000 

CHAPTER LXXXVI. 

Ariicrican magnanimity., generosity^ and public spirit. 

A large portion of this work cannot be perused without excit- 
ing mixed sensations of surprise and pity at the transcendent 
folly, and indignation at the political sins, of both the parties 
by which the country is divided. As a relief to the gloom this 



CHAP. 86.] MAGNANIMITY. . 48? 

view of the subject naturally inspires, I had determined to de- 
vote a long chapter to record various traits of honour, generosi- 
ty, magnanimity and justice, which elevate the national charac- 
ter ; place it on a level in some cases with that of Greece or 
Rome ; and hold out glorious examples to posterity. I regret 
to state, that most of the materials of which it was to have been 
composed, have been irrecoverably mislaid. It is therefore ne- 
cessarily circumscribed within much narrower limits than I had 
proposed. 

The British sloop ofwar. Sylph, was wrecked off the east end 
of Long Island, and nearly the whole of her crew perished. The 
few survivors were destitute of almost every thing : and in many 
countries would have been thrown into prison, as if they had 
been captured in batde. But to the honour of our government, as 
soon as the intelligence reached Washington, orders were issued 
not merely for their liberation, without exchange, if previously 
confined, but that they should be provided with whatever was 
" necessary for their subsistence and comfort." It was likewise 
ordered that " they should be either sent in a cartel to Halifax, 
or conveyed by a flag to one of the ships off New York harbour." 

The captain of an American privateer, the Midas, having 
landed some of his men, on Royal Island, at the plantation of 
a Mr. Bafnett, gave them orders " to set fire to the buildings." 
Accordinglv, " four handsome dwelling houses, and fourteen 
negro huts,'' were consumed. 

Intelligence of this outrage being conveyed to the seat of gov- 
ernment, by the collector of the customs at Wilmington, N. C. 
the president of the United States immediately sent orders to 
that officer to revoke the commission of the captain of the Mi- 
das, for " the wilful deviation from his instructions, which en- 
joined the strictest regard to the usages of civilized nations." 

The merit of this order is gready enhanced by the time of its 
occurrence. It is dated the 25th of November, 1814, when the 
feelings of the nation were festering under the then recent Van- 
dalic destruction of the public buildings at Washington — and the 
abominable atrocities perpetrated at Hampton and elsewhere — 
and when the strict laws of war might, perhaps, in retaliation, 
have justified the infliction of a desolating vengeance on the de- 
fenceless shores of the West Indies. The conclusion of the or- 
der is so just and pointed, that I most cheerfully present it to 
the reader : 

" In communicating this determination of the president, it is proper to re- 
mark, that by whatsoever acts of flagrant outrage upon defenceless towns and 
properly of unarmed and unresisting individuals, the British naval and military 
officers on our maritime and inland frontiers may have provoked, or may here- 
after provoke, severe measures of retaliation, it is for the government alone to 
prescribe the manner and the means of retaliation." 



488 rOLITICAL OLt\'^E BRANCH. [chap. 86. 

That the conduct of our naval heroes towards their conquer- 
ed enemies has displayed a high degree of magnanimity, kind- 
ness, and liberality, there is not the shadow of a doubt. " Proofs 
rise on proofs, and still the last the strongest." It is delightlul 
to find the most decisive testimony borne on the subject, even 
by the British officers themselves, who must be most indisputa- 
ble evidence. 

Captain Dacres, to his honour be it said, expresses himself in 
the most unequivocal terms on this subject, in the official letter 
containing an account of his capture : 

" I feel it my duty to state, that the conduct of Captain Hull and his officers 
to our men, has been that of a brave enemy ; the greatest care being taken to 
prevent our men losing the smallest trifle, and tlie greatest attention being paid 
to the wounded." 

Of the conduct of the amiable and universally-lamented Cap- 
tain Lawrence, the following decisive testimonial was given by 
the officers of the Peacock : 

JK^exv-York, 27th March, 1813. 
"Sin — We, the surviving officers of his Britannic majesty's late brig Pea- 
cock, beg leave to return you our grateful acknowledgments for the kin'd at- 
tention and hospitality we experienced during the time we remained on board 
the United States sloop Hornet. So much was done to alleviate the distress- 
ing and uncomfortable situation in which we were placed when received on 
board the sloop you command, that we cannot better express our feelings than 
by saying, " We ceased to consider ourselves prisoners;" and every thing that 
friendship could dictate, was adopted by you, and the ofticers of the Hornet, to 
remedy the inconvenience we would otlicrvvise have expei-ienced, from the 
unavoidable loss of the whole of our property and clothes, by the sudden sink- 
ing of the Peacock. 

" Permit us, then, sir, impressed as we arc, with a grateful sense of your 
kindness, Vor ourselves and the other officers and ship's company, to return you 
and the officers of the Hornet our sincere thanks, which we shall feel obliged 
if you will communicate in our name ; and believe us to remain, with a high 
sense of the kind offices you have rendered us, your hnml)le servants, 

" F. xV. WIllGHT, 1st lieutenant. 
(;. LAMURET, 2d lieutenant. 
EDWARD LOTT, master. 
J. WHITTAKER, surgeon. 
F. D. UNWIN, purser. 
" Jamen Laxvretice, esq. commander U. S. sloop Hornet." 

Captain Carden bore the most unequivocal testimony to the 
chivalric liberality of Commodore Decatur and his officers. All 
the private property of the ofticers and men on board the Mace- 
donian was given up to the owners — and for some wine, and 
other articles, which nine officers out of ten, similarly circum- 
stanced, would have seized, without any " compunctious visit- 
ings of conscience,-' the commodore paid the captain eight hun- 
dred dollars. 

To the humanity, kindness, and liberality of commodore Bain- 
bildge towards the prisoners, captured in the Java, General His- 
lop bore the most honourable testimony. Next to the gratifica 



CHAF. 86] MAGNANnOTY. 489 

tion which a liberal mind feels in the contemplation of the con- 
duct of the victor, is that felt in reading the candid acknowledg- 
ments of the vanquished. 

Gen Hislop to Commodore JSainbridge, 

Dear Sir, St. Salvador, Januaty 3d, 1813. 

I am justly penetrated with the fullest sense of your very handsome and 
kind treatment, ever since the fate of war placed me in your power : and I 
beg once more to renew to you my sincerest acknowledgments for the same. 

Your acquiescence with my request in granting me my parole, with the offi- 
cers of my staff, added to the obhgation I had previously experienced, claims 
from me this additional tribute of my thanks. May I now finally flatter myself^ 
that in the further extension of your generous and humane feehngs, in the 
alleviation of the misfortunes of war, you will have the goodness to fulfil the 
only wish and request I am now most anxious to see completed, by enlarging 
on their parole, (on the same conditions you have acceded to with respect to 
myself) all the officers of the Java, still on board your ship — a favoiu- I shall 
never cease duly to appreciate, by your acquiescence thereto. 

I have the honour to subscribe myself, dear sir, your much obliged and very 
humble servant, 

(Signed) T. HISLOP. 

Commodore Bainbridge. 

Answer of Commodore Bainbridge. 

United States' Frigate Constitution, St. Salvador, 3d Jan. 1813. 
Dear Sir, 
I have received your letter of this date, conveying sentiments of your feel- 
ings for my treatment towards you since the fate of war placed you in my 
power. The kind expressions which you have been pleased to use, are justly- 
appreciated by me, and far overbalance those common civilities shewn by me,_ 
and which are always due to prisoners. I regret that the lumbered state of 
my ship prevented me from making you as comfortable on board, as I sincerely 
wished to have done. I have complied with your last request, respecting pa- 
roling all the officers of the Java. In doing so, your desire, in addition to my 
disposition to ameliorate, as much as possible, the situation of those officers, 
considerably influenced me. 

Permit me to tender you (notwithstanding our respective countries are at= 
war) assurances of sincere esteem and high respect, and to assure you that I. 
shall feel at all times highly gratified in hearing from you. With fervent wishes 
for the recovery of the gallant Captain Lambert, 

I have the honour to subscribe myself, very respectfully, &c. 

(Signed) Wm. BAINBRIDGE. • 

Ldeiit. Gen. Hislop, of the British army. 

General Hislop to Commodore Bainbridge. 
Dear Sir, St. Salvador, 4th January, 1813. 

Allow me once more to express my sincerest acknowledgments for this last 
instance of your kind attention to my wishes, by having complied with my re- 
quest in behalf of the officers of the Java. 

Lieutenant Chads delivered to me your very polite and obliging letter : and 
be assured, that I sliall feel no less gratification at all times to hear from you, 
than that which you are so good as"" to express yon will derive in i-eceiving 
infomiation respecting myself. 

May I request now that you v/ill be so good as to cause to be lookea for, a 
small chest,* containing articles of plate, more valuable to me on account of 

* The chest loas merely mislaid. It had been restored by orders of Commodore 
Bainbridge, prior to the receipt of this letter. 



490 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 87. 

having been presented to me by the colony of Demarara, where I commanded 
for several years. I have tlie honour to be, he. 

(Signed) T. mSLOP 

Commodore Bainbridge. 

CHAPTER LXXXVII. 

Miscellaneous articles. 

The people of the eastern states, thank heaven, are recover- 
ing fast from the paroxysms of the malignant political fever, 
wherebv they were, during the war, driven to the utmost excess 
of insanity and idiocy.' With aching hearts, they look back on 
their wild career. There is no point of view in which it can be 
placed, to produce this effect more forcibly, than by a contrast 
with the heroism, patriotism, and liberality of the western states, 
which have elevated the national character to a level with those 
of Greece and Rome, in their proudest days of glory. 

The following instance of devotion to country, and of alacrity 
in preparation for her defence, has perhaps hardly ever been 
exceeded. 

Governor Meigs, at Chilicothe, received an express, requir- 
ing aid, to support General Hull against the enemy, on Satur- 
day the 18th of July, 1812. On Sunday the ladies of the place 
(heaven reward them for " doing good on the Sabbath''''') worked 
all day to equip their fathers, husbands, brothers, and lovers, for 
the service. On Monday the drums beat to arms — and before 
noon of that day, a new and complete company of sixty men 
paraded and marched, fully equipped and uniformed. Several 
of the most respectable citizens of the place were among the vo- 
lunteers. It has been affirmed that empire and science are tra- 
velling to the westward. And certain it is, that glory and public 
spirit follow in their train — or, to speak more correcdy, lead 
them forward on their route. 

The legislature of Tennessee passed an act the 25th of Sep- 
tember, 1813, for raising 3500 men, to march against the Creeks, 
and authorising the banks of the state to lend, and the governor 
to borrow, any sum of money not exceeding S300,000, for arm- 
ing and equipping them. 

The act contained a clause directing, in the event of the gene- 
ral government refusing to pay the debts thus contracted, " that 
at the next session of the legislature of that state, a tax should 
be laid upon the taxable property within the same, sufficient to 
raise the sum and the interest thereon, which might be borrow- 
ed by the governor." 

Contrast this act, in the enaction of which presided exalted 
liberality and the purest patriotism, with the following miserable 
act passed in Massachusetts, about four months afterwards — an 



CHAP. 87.] TOOTHLESS MALIGNITY. 491 

act displaying as much toothless malignity as, ever entered into 
any public document. 

• Commomoealth of JMassadnisetts. 

An act declaratory of the true intent and meaning' of an act entitled, " An act to 
provide for the safe keeping of all prisoners committed under the authority 
of the United States, in the several gaols within tliis commonwealth." 

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives in general 
court assembled, and by the authoi'ity of the same, That nothing contained in 
an'act entitled, " An act to provide for the safe keeping of all prisoners commit- 
ted under the authority of the United States, in the several gaols of tliis com- 
monwealth," shall be so coixstrued as to authorise the keepers of said gaols to 
take custody of, and keep within said gaols, any prisoners oornmitted by any 
other authority than the judicial authority of the United States. 

And whereas, several prisoners of war have been committed to gaols within 
this commonwealth, under the executive authority of the United States: 

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That the keepers of the said gaols are hereby 
authorised and required to discharge from said gaols all such prisoners of war, 
after the expiration of thirty days from the passing oftliis act, unless tliey shall 
be sooner discharged by the authority of tlie United States. Feb. 1814. 

The same toothless malignity that the house of representa- 
tives, senate, and governor of the very respectable and enlight- 
ened state of Massachusetts exhibited in the above act, actuated 
the citizens of New Bedford, in their attempt to prevent, as far 
as lay in their power, the destruction of the enemy's commerce 
by our privateers, by the following resolutions : 

Voted, nnanimously. As expressive of the sense of the inhabitants of this town, 
that inasmuch as we have uniformly disapproved of the impolitic, unnecessary, 
and ruinous war in which the United States are engaged, we have considered 
it to be our duty to abstain, and have scrupulously abstained from all interest 
and concern in sending out private armed vessels, to harass the commerce of 
tlie enemy, and fi'om all voluntary acts which appeared to us to have a tendency 
to prolong the duration, encourage the prosecution, or increase th ■ ravages of 
the " unprofitable contest ;" that we have seen with disapprobation several 
private armed vessels belonging to other ports, taking shelter in our peaceful 
waters ; and regret that we have not authority, by law, wholty to exclude them 
from our harbour, where they serve to increase our dangers, and to excite tu- 
mult, disorder, riot, and confusion. 

Voted, iiiianimousUj, As expressive of the sense of the inhabitants of this town, 
^h^i private armed vessels, while cruising in various climates, and visiting shi]5s 
and vessels from every country, are extremely liable to contract and receive 
on board infectious diseases ; and that in such cases there is every reason to 
suspect that such vessels, and the persons, baggage, and clotliing, on board, 
may be infected with some contagious distemper — 

Voted, icnariiwoxisly. As expressive of the sense of the inhabitants of this town, 
that the safety of the inhabitants thereof requires tliat any private armed vessel 
or vessels, which shall an-ive or be bound to the harbour of New Bedford, from 
an}'' port or place, shall be required to perform quarantine during a term of 
not less than forty days; and that the selectmen and health committee of the 
town be requested to cause all such vessels to perfomi quarantine at such place 
as they shall appoint, and under such restrictions and regulations as they may 
judge expedient. J\Vw^(?(//brt/, /^//^ 21, 1814. 

By these insidious resolves, a privateer, direct from New York, 
Philadelphia, or Baltimore, would be obliged to perform qua- 
rantine of " not less than forty days." Thus, so far as depend- 



492 POLITICAL OLIVE BilANCH. [chav. i^T. 

ed on the " patriotic citizens" of New Bedford^ while the num- 
berless government vessels and privateers of the enemy, were 
preying on our exposed commerce, they would cut up our pri- 
vateering by the roots ! 

To these striking examples of infatuation, I shall add one 
more — and then close the scene. But the reader may rest assur- 
ed, that there are enough on record to fill a handsome pocket 
volume, and that not printed on very large type. 

Some of the disaffected citizens of the state of New York 
were in the habit of seizing British deserters, and conveying 
them across the lines, to receive punishment for the abandon, 
meat of their sovereign. To deter from a continuance of this 
foul crime, the legislature of that state passed the following act : 

Be it enacted by the people of the state ofJ\''eiv York, represented in senate unci aS' 
semblij. That if any person or persons witliin tliis state sliall apprehend, arrest, 
or detain, or assist, or aid or abet, in the appreliension, arrest, or detention, of 
any British deserter or deserters, knowing- him or them to he such, and with 
intent to return him or them to tlie enemy, such person or persons, on beini^ 
thereof convicted, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall be sentenced to 
imprisonment, in the state prison, for the term of ten years. Passed October 
11, 1814. 

The spirit of disaffection that existed during the war, appears 
in no way more disgusting, than in the elaborate attempt made 
in certain newspapers to depreciate the merits and the glory of 
the defenders of their country. In this they ran a race with the 
most envenomed of the ministerial papers in London. 

After the defeat and capture of the army of general Pz^octor, 
which, treading on the heels of the illustrious Perry's glorious 
exploit, excited a general burst of joy among all the friends of 
this country, the following comments on the subject were pub- 
lished in two influential eastern papers : — 

" At length, the handful of British troops, which, for more than a year, had 
baffled the numerous armies of the United States, in the invasion of Canada, 
deprived of the genius of the immortal Jirock, have been obliged to yield to 
superior power and numbers." Sal&m Gazette, Oct. 22, 1814. 

" We shall surrender all our conquests at a peace. It is indeed a hopeful 
exploit for Harrison, with five thousand troops, who h.ave been assembling and 
preparing ever since .Tulj-, 1812, to fight and conquer fovir hundred and" fifty 
worn-out, exhausted British regulars, whom the Indians had previously de- 
serted." Boston Daily Advertiser, Oct. 23, 1814, 

Extract of a letter from Albany. JVot>. 24, 1813. 
" Every hour is fraught with doleful tidings from the north. Humanity 
groans from t!ie frontic rs. Hampton's army is reduced to about 2000 ; AVilkin- 
son's cut up .and famishing. Crimination and recrimination are the order of 
the day. Democracy has rolled herself up in weeds, and lain down for her 
List wallowing in the sloug-h of disgrace. Armstrong, the cold-blooded direc- 
tor of all this military anarchy, is still here, but chop-fallen. No profane allu- 
sion, but 

Now lift, ye saints, your heads on high. 

And shout — for your redemption's nigh." Boston Gazette. 



cHAp.Sr.] THEORIES OF GOVERNMENT. 453 

Public Spirit. 
Shortly after the declaration ol war, a company of aged citi- 
zens was formed in Kowan County, North Carolina, ol which 
the members were from 45 to 80 years of age. They were em- 
bodied mider the title of " The Company of Silver Locks." 
The following is the preamble to their articles of association. 

"The undersigned soldiers, having many of us fought for our libertj' in the 
revokition, and now from our advanced age are unable to undergo the same 
hardships in the field as formerly ; yet our bosoms swell with indignation, when 
we hear of our honour and independence being insulted by foreign enemies, 
who have not only begun the awful work of death themselves, but encouraged 
the savage tribes to spill the blood of our innocent brethi-en on our frontiers, 
regarding neither sex or age : 

" We, therefore, are willing to aid our beloved country, i" opposing the ene- 
my and suppressing the influence of dangerous and ill-designing men (as we 
fear may exist among us) in every instance, so far as we may be justified by 
the laws of our country." 

In the city of Richmond, shortly after the declaration of war, 
a subscription was opened for raising a sum of money for the 
benefit of such poor persons and their families, as might leave 
Virginia in the service of the United States ; and on the spur 
of the occasion, the sum of 5,282 dollars was collected,* 

The following resolution was agreed to by both houses of the 
legislature of New York, on the 22d of October, 1814, without 
a dissenting voice, notwithstanding that a considerable portion 
of the members were high-toned federalists, and, of course, hos- 
tile to the administration. 

" Resolved unanimously. That the house of assembly of the state of New- 
York, view with mingled emotions of surprise and indignation, the extravagant 
and disgracefid terms proposed by the British commissioners at Ghent — and 
however ardently they may desire the restoration of peace to their country, 
they can never consent to receive it, at the sacrifice of national honour and 
dignity — that they therefore strongly recommend to the national legislature 
the adoption of the most vigorous and efficacious measures in the prosecution 
of the war, as the best means of bringing the contest to an honourable termina- 
tion, and of transmitting unimpaired to their posterity their rights, liberty, and 
independence." 

Theories of Government, 

We have lived through a most eventful period, a period In 
which as many strong and important facts have been compress- 
ed into the space of a year, as in former times would have af- 
forded ample materials for the history of half a century. 

It is difficult for the mind to grasp these mighty events — to 
trace effects to their causes — and to deduce lessons of instruct 
tion from the whole for ourselves and our posterity. 

One consequence resulting from a deep contemplation on 
the subject— is, that it staggers our faith in some of the generally 

* Compare this hberality with the paltry conduct of Philadelphia in similar 
circumstances, as stated, page 316, What, an awful contrast! 
O. B, 64 



494 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. fcHir. 87. 

received maxims of the most celebrated writers on political 
(economy. 

In this superficial sketch, I confine myself to the affairs of 
this country only. The French revolution is one of those poli- 
tical phenomena, that bid defiance to all the ordinary powers of 
calculation. 

That the people of the United States, taken in mass, are more 
generally well informed than those of any other country with 
which we are acquainted, can hardly be denied. And it ap- 
pears equally true, that there is np part of this countr}% in which 
information is more generally spread, than among the people of 
the eastern states. 'l\\\s is the result of the most admirable 
system of education which has prevailed among them for so 
Jong a period. 

While this claim of superior mental cultivation is unhesita- 
tingly advanced for the mass of our citizens, it would be the 
extreme of arrogance to pretend to compare our higher orders 
with those of France, England, and Germany, among whom 
will be found numbers of illustrious men who far excel the most 
highly cultivated among our citizens. Compared with Europe, 
on the ground of intellect, we stand nearly as we do with respect 
to wealth. There, both are in extremes : — a small number im- 
mensely wealthy, and the mass of the community in penury. 
Here we have hardly any in penury— and as few immensely 
rich. Thus it is w ith endowments of mind. We have no La- 
lands, nor La Places, nor Buffons, nor Robertsons, nor Scotts, 
nor Opies. But we have none buried in such deplorable igno- 
rance as prevails in various parts of Europe. 

Every theory of government that has met with the approba- 
tion of the friends of maiikind, has presumed, that a people 
circumstanced as we are, enjoying all the advantages of a mild 
and rational government, would duly appreciate its value, cling 
to it in all its difficulties, and risk, or, if necessary, sacrifice for- 
tune ?^nd life in its defence. 

Is not this the fact, reader ? Is it not a beautiful and enchant- 
ing theorv ? Who, aiuong us, has not hung delighted on the 
pages of J^ocke, Sydney, Harrington, Price, and Junius, in 
ivhich this captivating view is given of human nature ? 

But what have we had the misfortune to witness ? 

A most awful and till now a most incredible reverse. We 
have seen, that a most enlightened portion of our common coun- 
try was in a state of delusion and insanity that could not be 
exceeded bv the most ignorant and oppressed populace in the 
yrorst-governed part of Europe — that they were proceeding, 
step by step, to anarchy and civil war— that they were on the 
point of selling their sacred their holy birthright for a mess of 
pottage — and, finally, that the wealthy and the higher orders of 
society were zealously tearing down the pillars of government, 



CHAP. 88.] CONSCRIPTION. 49S 

while the middle and lower classes were as zealously guarding 
them from destruction I ! ! ! 

CHAPTER LXXXVIII. 

Conscription. Impressment. 

It is a curious subject of investigation, to trace the influenced 
and effects of faction, in different countries and in different pe- 
riods. And it will be found, that the most violent bodily disor- 
ders in different parts of the world, and at different eras, are not 
more uniform in their symptoms and operations than are those 
of the mind. 

The lamentable and disgraceful defeat of the noble plans of 
defence suggested by the secretary of state, and by Mr. Giles, 
has been fully detailed in a preceding part of this book. They 
were falsely asserted to be of French origin : — and to this false- 
hood, it is not improbable at least one half of the factious and 
senseless violence with which they were opposed, may be traced. 

The history of England affords a case of the most perfect 
analogy, that can be conceived. 

The atrocious practice of impressment had been long a sub- 
ject of the loudest and most unqualified complaint and disappro- 
bation. The nation was to the last degree tenacious of its liber- 
ties : and yet an entire class of a most useful description was 
put out of the protection of the law, and subjected to the most 
enormous violence and outrage — as well as to what may be 
justly termed a most galling slavery. 

The British mmistry in 1 748, attempted to apply a remedy 
to this crying evil. A bill was submitted to parliament, where- 
by the mariners throughout the kingdom were to be registered — > 
a certain portion of them to receive some small amount of pay 
— ^and to be liable, in cases of emergency, to serve in the royal 
navy for a limited time. 

It requires but a very superficial consideration of the subject, 
to be convinced, that the interests of humanity, as well as of the 
seamen, would be promoted by such a bill, the provisions of 
which were as guarded as could be conceived. 

But faction defeated this wise plan. It was run down by the 
same senseless clamour as our conscription. It was branded with 
the foul charge of being " Frenchified." This was enough. The 
ministry were compelled to abandon it. 

" The members in the opposition, affecting to represent this measare in an 
odious light, as an imitation of the French method of registering seamen, with- 
out their consent, Mr. Pelham dropped it as an unpopular project."* 

The intrinsic merit of this plan induced an attempt to revive it 
in 1758, with considerable improvements, one of which was, that 

* SmoUet's England. Pliiladelphia edition, 1810, vol.iii. p. 68. 



496 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH. [chap. 88. 

where any number of seamen were required by the government, 
they should be drawn by lot. The same success attended this 
attempt as had done the former.f It was run down by the same 
absurd outcry. 

Another effort was made in 1759, to rescue the seamen from 
the horrors of impressment, by improvements on the bill of the 
preceding year. A still greater clamour was excited — and the 
bill was rejected. 

In order to shew the excessive absurdity of the objections 
made to the plan of Mr. Pelham, on the ground of its being of 
French original, I annex a statement of the regulations of the 
French seamen, so far as respects compulsory service. They are 
as far superior to those of the British navy, as the British go- 
vernment is superior to that of Turkey. For this statement I 
acknowledge myself indebted to P. S. Duponceau, Esq. an emi- 
nent French barrister of this city. 

" The French law for the claosification, or, as it might per- 
haps be called, for the conscription^ of seamen, was enacted 
by Lewis XlVth, in the year 1668, under the ministry of the 
great Colbert. Before the enactment of that law, the French 
government had no resource left, when they wanted seamen, 
but to lay a general embargo on merchant vessels in all their 
ports ; by which means mariners were left without employ- 
ment, and compelled by necessity to enlist on board the king's 
ships. But the classification system having been suggested 
by Colbert in the year 1667, was put in force, by way of ex- 
periment, in the governments of La Rochelle^ Brouage^ and 
the Isles of Re, Oleron, and Aix, where it operated so suc- 
cessfully, that the next year its provisions were extended to 
the whole kingdom. 

" This Ordonnance, which bears date the 22d of September, 
1668, provides in substance : That all persons who have been 
employed two years in maritime service on board of a mer- 
chantman, shall be considered as seamen by profession^ and as 
such shall be enrolled or registered in a public office estab- 
lished within each maritime district or department. In time 
of war, the seamen so registered are divided into three classes : 
and each class is bound alternately to serve for one year on 
board the king's ships when required. After having thus 
served one twelvemonth, they are discharged and free to en- 
gage again in the merchants' service ; the next class in order 
takes their place; and so on in rotation, until the end of the 
war. 

*' Seamen who are constantly employed on board oi fishing 
vessels^ are exempt altogether from the operation of this law. 
In order to encourage the fisheries, the edict declares that 

t Idem, page 521. 



CHAP. 88] THE PULPIT. 49? 

" those who are regularly employed in that line, shall not be 
*' classed like other mariners^ and shall not be compelled to 
" serve on board the ships of the royal navy. 

*' The seamen who are classed as abovementioned, enjoy 
" many important privileges, to make them amends for this 
" compulsive service. They are exempt at all times from serv- 
" ing in the militia. Soldiers cannot be quartered or billetted 
" in their houses. They are exempt from all the burdensome 
*' offices of the state, such as with us that of constable, guardian 
" of the poor, and the like : and while in actual service, no legal 
" process can be served upon them, and all suits actually de- 
" pending, are superseded." 

For further details, see 1st Valin, page 509, and following. 



The Pulpit. 

Chapter 56 exhibits an awful view of the deplorable infatua- 
tion which led to the prostitution of the pulpit, in Boston, to 
excite to anarchy, rebellion, and civil war. It is delightful to 
contemplate its application in New- York, to the sacred, I had 
almost said the divine, purpose, of defending our fathers, our 
mothers, our sisters, our brothers, our wives, our children, our 
homes and our altars. The rev. Mr. M'Leod, a gentleman of 
powerful talents, preached a set of sermons, entitled, " A Scrip- 
tural View of the Character, Causes, and Ends of the Present 
War ;" in which are displayed a holy zeal — a glowing spirit of 
patriotism, a profound knowledge of scripture, and an eloquence 
not unworthy of a Massillon or a Bourdaloue. I intended to 
have given copious extracts from them, but my limits forbid 
the indulgence of that intention, and confine me to a few para- 
graphs — enough, however, I trust, to induce readers of taste to 
possess themselves of the whole work. 

" I affirm the justice of the ivar from its covimencement. Our neutral trade 
was violently opposed, and almost totally destroyed ; our property was cap- 
tui-ed; our fellow-citizens were enslaved, while peaceably pursuing' their pro- 
per employment ; and negociation failed, after the exertions of years, to pro- 
cure redress for the past, or immunity for the future. To recover and preserve 
propei-ty, to redeem and to defend men, these are lawful causes of war. These 
are the causes of the present war. The argument requires neither art nor 
eloquence. It is. obvious to every capacity. It is irresistible. It may be evaded, 
but it cannot be refuted. If it fail in extorting confession, it cannot fail in 
producing conviction. 

" American property has been seized and destroyed : American citizens 
have been impressed and enslaved. These are the facts. 

" War, in defence of property, of liberty, and of life, is lawful. This is the 
principle. 

" Apply the principle to the facts. The United States have declared war, 
in order to vindicate the rights of property, of liberty, and of life. Therefore 
is the present war, from its origin, a defensive and a just war. This is the 
argument. 

" You may speak about it, and write about it ; you may close your eyes upoa 
it ; you may go round about, and fly from it : but you will in vain offer resist- 



i98 POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH; [chap. 88. 

ance to its truth. The facts are notorious. The principle is confessed. The 
application is necessary. 

-' I would urge the support of the war, because I earnestly long for a per- 
manent peace. You know the enemy. His claims will rise by his successes; 
and fall, in proportion to his defeats. The more he suffers, the more will he 
be disposed to relinquish the contest. The greater his danger, the sooner will 
he come to an accommodation. By consistency and unanimity, America might 
have finished this war as soon as it had commenced. It is only by afl'ecting the 
fears of the foe, that he can be made to listen to the voice of equity 

"1 would recommend the support of this war, because it is just. The United 
States ask for nothing but what they ought to have ; wiiat it is lawful for the 
euemy to give; what is, in its very nature, moral— the protection of property, 
and personal liberty. I pray for success to these righteous claims. 1 pray for 
courage to the warrior, and for success to the armaments by which the plea is 
urged, because the cause is just — because it is necessary to the repose of the 
world — because God has promised that this cause shall universally prevail. 

" When your country is at war, in defence of her rights, it is your duty to 
encourage, by all lawful means, her exertions in the strife. It is criminal to 
diminish her strength, or impede her progress. To this principle I would call 
your notice from the pulpit, while our friends, and our brethren from the adja- 
cent country are assembled round our city, to defend it from attack. While 
tliose among our fellow-worsliippers in this house, who are fit to bear arms, are 
practising in the field, the arts of defensive warfare ; while all ranks and classes 
of our fellow-citizens are employing their hands and their money in raising 
bulwarks on every assailable point, to protect our homes and our places of pub- 
lic worship, let us accompany them with our wishes and our prayers, lest we 
become an enslaved people. 

" Those, who withhold their support from the war in which their country 
is engaged, do what tends to prolong the evil. 

" When appeal is once made to the law of force, the parties, if they do not 
cease to reason, employ discussion only as an auxiliary to the sword. It then 
becomes a contest for victory. The aggressor, influenced originally by prin- 
ciples of injustice, is not likely to be corrected by his own success. The his- 
tory of nations aflbrds no instance of claims which occasioned war, being 
relinquished by the offending party merely because the resistance of the other 
was feeble. When a people are divided, they offer themselves an easy prey 
to the aggressor ; and even if tliey should ultimately succeed in redressing the 
evil, their weakness and discord certainly prolong the contest. A protracted 
warfare, although ultimately successful, is a present evil ; and the friends of a 
speedy peace will always, in war, be desirous to employ the energy wliich alone 
can deserve and secure a peace. With th- work of death none should trifle. 
It is ruinous — it is cruel, to prolong, unnecessarily, even a war of defence. In 
so far as any member of the community, in public or in private, distracts the 
councils, or impedes the progress of those who conduct the war, he evidently 
prolongs the contest, and does what he can to prevent the return of peace. So 
iar the guilt of a protracted warfare is chargeable upon him. It is, indeed, an 
evidence of the displeasure of the Deity, when a people, instead of unani- 
mously co-operating for punishing the aggressor, are so divided and enfeebled, 
as to prolong, for years, a contest which might be brought to a successful issue 
almost immediately after its commencement. The man who withholds his 
support in such a case, is the enemy of peace : he loves his party more than 
he docs his country, more than he does honour and justice ; more even than 
humanity or his own interest, connected with the return of peace, who strives, 
for the sake of party, to enfeeble tlie arm of authority, to withhold the neces- 
sary resources, and to discourage the soldier. 

" The Deity is a God of justice and of truth. He will have us to judge 
righteous judgment. He commands us to love the truth and the peace ; and 
to promote the knowledge and practice of equity. Therefore he reproves 
those who do not support an equitable war, as the cause of God, the Supreme 
.ludge. Judges, v. 23. " Curse ye Mcroz,'' (said the angel of the Lord,) " curse 
ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the kelp of t/m Lord, ti 
the help of the Lord against the mighty." 

THE EfJD. 



INDEX. 



Achiiles's tender heel, - » - - - ' 439 

Adams's Defence of the American Constitutions, tribute to, - 39 
Administration of Mr. Jefferson, weakness of, - - - - 56, 57 

Admiralty address to the British navy, .... 63 

Alexander, emperor, his opinion of the justice of the war, - - 240 

Alien law, extract from, ..---- 51 

Alien and sedition laws, 83, opposition to, - - - - 50 

American revolution, barbarities perpetrated in, . - - 44 

American merchants, true policy of, - - - - - 105 

Americans vindicating the outrages of Great Britain, - - 124 

American impressed sailors scourged for trying to procure redress, 187 

American slaves on board British men of war, - - - - 210 

American magnanimity, generosity and public spirit, - - 486 

Appointment of Mr. Gallatin, as minister, impolitic, - - 63 
Armistice, proposed by admiral Warren, 59— ^-rejected by Mr. Madison, 

60 — impolicy of the rejection, - - - - 63 

Ai-mlstice proposed by Mr. Madison, 61 — rejected by Lord Castlereagh 61 

Arnold, Benedict, treason of, - ... - 317 

Associations to prevent the success of the loans, - - 285 

Attack on the Chesapeake, statement of the, 108 — Remarks on, - 175 

Baltimore Mercantile Memorial, extracts from, ... 93 

Bank of the United States, non-renewal of the character of the, - 58 

Banks, bankruptcy of the, . . - - . 470 

Bankruptcies, numerous, in middle and southern states, - - 295 

Baring, Sir Francis, purchased 2200 shares in the Bank U. States, - 59 

Baron, commodore, letter from, - - - - - 114 

Bayard, James A. his opinion of the orders in council, - - - 242 

Baring's inquiry into the effects of the orders in council, - 123 

Berlin Decree,' Abr-mfter 21, 1806, .. ... 115 

Berlin decree not enforced against American vessels, for 12 months, 117 

Blake, Francis, remarks on, - . . . . 313 

Blind leading the blind, ..... . 304 

Blockade of the coast from tlie Elbe to Brest, - - - 115 

Blockade, British definition of, ..... 342 

Blue lights, ....... 457 

Bonaparte complains of being libelled by Peletier, . - 435 

Boston Mercantile Memorial, extracts from, - - - 88 

Boston banks, abstract of the state of the, ... 296 

Boston has 44 members in the H. of R. of Massachusetts, - . 388 

Boston, turbulence of, ----- . 253 

Bourbons and Guisesj deadly animosity between, ... 430 



500 INDEX. 

Boyle's (captain) blockade of the British dominions, - - 116 

British depredations brought on the tapis in the senate of the U. S. - 106 
British importations, law limiting, .... 107 

British proclamation, ordering tlie impressment of British subjects on 

board American vessels, - - - - - -114 

British government bills, advertisement for the sale of, - - 297 

British prizes sent into Boston, - .... 294 

British depredations, calculation of the amount of, . - 239 

British depredations, governor Plumer's opinion on, - - 240 

British ministry deceived by their friends, - - - 223 

British government bills openly advertised for sale in Boston, - 297 

British depredations, mercantile meetings against, - - 87 

British privateers, horrible picture of the rapacity of, - - 125 

British system towards United States, impohcy of, - - 330 

British ministers, indefensible conduct of, - - - - 339 

Brougham, Henry, extract from speech of, ... 332 

Caning, Mr. George, instruction of, to Mr. Ersklne, . - . 174 

Caucuses, observations on, ..... 459 

Catlet, Dr. report of, ..... -77 

Certificate of Lieutenant B. Van Hoffman, .... 201 

Chesapeake, proceedings respecting the attack upon the, - 110, 111,112 
Chesapeake, murderous attack on the, 108, 173 — Indignation excit- 
ed by the, - - - - - - 110, 112, H3 

Change in the prospects of the country, - - - - 40 

Church is in danger, magical effects of the deceptions ciy, - 166 

Civil war, danger of, 39, endeavours to produce, - - - 41 

Civil wars of France and England, .... 421, 422 

Classification system, excellence of, 356,357, 358 — a measure of the Ame- 
rican revolution, - . . - . - 378, 379 
Cobbett, W. reflections of, on the impressment of American seamen, 182 
Colonial trade, report of King's advocate upon, - - - 86 
Combination to paraUze the government, 295, ruinous consequences of, 

288, particulars of, - - - - - - 300 

Combination, treasonable, to bankrupt the government, - - 285 

Commerce of America, all-important to England, 330 — extent of - 329 

Commerce of different parts of the United States, - - 260 

Commercial intercourse with Great Britain and France, act to interdict, 158 
Committee of Congress, report of, - . . - -77 

Compensation Law, - - - . - - 482 

Conflagration at Washington, effects of, - - - - 73 

Congress, lamentable Imljecility of, - - - - 67, 68 

Congress, imbecile proceedings of, - - . - 458 

Congi'essional caucus, unconstitutional and Illegal, - 440, 441, 442 

Conscription of Militia, Pennylvania law respecting, . - - 378 

Conscription, ....... 495 

Consular certificates of origin, a cause of capture, ... 126 
Constitutions of various st.ates, extracts from, ... 358 

Congress empowered to call out the militia in case of invasion, 363, 364 

Copenhagen, destruction of, Mr. Roscoe's account of the, - - 344 

Craig, Sir James, his instructions to John Henry, - - 144 

Credentials from Sir James Craig, to John Henry, ... 145 

Credulity, wonderful, of faction, .... 131 

Critical situation of the United States, . - - - 39 

Dacres, captain, address of, to the court martial, ... 202 

Dardin's (Amy) horse, proceedings respecting, ... 70 

Danes, Portuguese and Swedes, impressed in American vesssels, 207 

Davila's history of French civil wars, reference to, - - - 39 

Deane, Silas, treason of, ----- - 317 

Debts of the United States, diminution of the, ... 401 

Declaration of war against France, motion for, rejected, - - 248 

Decatur, letter of, respecting blue lights, - - . - 457 



INDEX. 



501 



392 



63 

480 

47 

200 

201 

402 
255 



Democrats threatened with vengeance as friends of Bonaparte, 

Democrats rail at the appointment of Judge Jay to negociate with 
England, - - - 

Democratic Societies, . . . - 

Democrats, errors of, respecting government, 

Deposition of Isaac Clark, .... 

Deposition of Richard Thompson, ... 

Direct taxes repealed under Mr. Jefferson's administration. 

Discord, attempts to produce, between eastern and southern states. 

Documents on the subject of impressment, annexed to the report of the 
committee of the legislature of Massachusetts, 211 ; Deposition of J. 
Eldridge, 211 ; of William Parsons, ibid ; of Caleb Loring, ibiil ; of An- 
drew Ilaraden, 212; of Josiah Orne, 214; of Nathaniel Hooper, ibid; 
of B. T. lieud, ibid. 

Domestic improvements and industry, progress of. 

Duties paid by the different states, from 1791 to 1812, 

Dyson, captain, unjust treatment of. 

Eastern states, pretensions of, to superiority over the southern, 
y'*^. Eastern states, character of, at various periods, 
yt^ Eastern states, greatly dependent upon the southern, 

Eastern states, deeply interested in manufactures, 

Eaton, Gen. - • ... 

Eight per cent, loan, opposition to, - 

Embai-go, act to enforce the - - - _ 

Embargo, flagrantly violated, 136 — repealed. 

Embargo, recommended to congi-ess by merchants of New York, 

Embargo, not duly enforced by Mr. Jefferson, 

Embargo, factious clamour against, ... 

Kmbarg-o, a wise, prudent, and necessary measure, 

Embargo, British proclamation invites to violation of. 

Embargo, Philadelphia resolutions against. 

Enforcing law, extracts from, 

English outrages, details of, - 

English canaille detest foreigners of all descriptions, 

England, magnanimous example of, 

England struggling for her existence, a mere delusion, 

England more ably defended in America than in London, 

England, elaborate defences of, 

England carries on with France the trade interdicted to the U. States, 

England makes war without any declaration. 

Error, egregious, committed by the author of the Olive Branch, 

Errors of the democratic party, ... 

Erskine arrangement, hberal and magnanimous, 

Erskine arrangement, loudly and universally applauded, 

Erskine arrangement, newspaper extracts respecting, 

Erskine arrangement, analysis of, - 

Erskine arrangement, cause of its rejection, 

Erskine, Hon. David M. letters to the secretary of state, 

Erskine, Mr. George Canning's instructions to. 

Exports of the United States, ... 

Exports of the United States, statements of the - 

Exports of the United States, increase of, - 

Exports of the United States, foreign and domestic, 260— foreign, 2te, 

domestic, 264 — various comparisons of the - '261 262 

Extract from the proceedings of the legislature of Massachusetts, ' 236 

Extract from the report of tlie committee recommending a declaration of 

237 

96 

89, 198 

93, 199 

9.5, 199 

4^3 



398 
276 

78 
257 
258 
283 
354 

47 

52 
136 
158 
160 

57 
132 
129, 130, 132, 133 
135 
137 
137 
.342 
315 
315 
341 
123 
177, 178 
239 
436 
217 

46 

162 

166 

168, 169, 170 

171 

172 

163, 164 

174 

473 

' 399 

86 



war, 



Extract from the memerial of the merchants of Salem, 
Extract from New York memorial, 

Extract from the memorial of the merchants of Baltimore, 
Extract from the memorial of the merchants of Newhaven, 
inaction, a tremendous scourge, 
O, B. 65 



502 INDEX. 

Faction, consequences of, - - - .39 

Fuction, deleterious effects of, respecting impressment, - 207 

Federal convention, proceedings in, - - - 81 

Federal party, division among, ... 81 

Federal constitution, formed with great difficulty, - - 83 

Federal party, their unavailing struggles for power, - 409 

Federal constitution, happy consequences of, - - 405 

Federalists, errors of, - - - - 81 

Federalists, address of the author to, - - - 321 

Federalists pursued the policy they reprobated in the democrats, 46 

I'ederalists in 1793, 4 and 5, friends of order and good government, 312 

Foreigners, illiberality of prejudices against, - - 314 

Foreigners, hst of, who supported the cause df America, - 319 

Foreign commerce, progress of, - - - 399 

Fort Washington, capture of, - - - - 78 

Foster, Augustus, Esq. extract of a letter from, - - 249 

Fox's (Charles James) blockade from the Elbe to Brest, - 115 

France, American injustice to, - - - 103 

France, urbanity of, — hideous change in its manners, - - 43 

Freedom of the seas, - - - - 477 

French influence, utter want of foundation of the charge of, 113, 166 

Gardiner, Rev. J. S. J. extracts from his political sermons, - 307 

General government, wonderful pusillanimity of the, - - 391 

General tickets, extremely partial and unjust, - - 386 

Gerrymanderism, definition and injustice of, - - 383 

Generosity of nations, a nonentity, ... 38 

Gilman, governor, extract from his speech, - - 394 

Gottenburg, neg-ociation at, impolitic, - - 64 

Government, theories of, .... 493 

Governor of Massachusetts, his praise of Mr. Madison, - 169 

Great Britain egregiously deceived by her friends, - - 223 

Great Britain vulnerable in her commerce, - - 436 

Griswold, governor, extract from an address of, - - 243 
Grisw old, governov, his opinion of the conduct of France and England, 243 

Gucrriere, particulars of the capture of the, - - 202 

Guerriere, extracts from the logbook of the, - - 202 

Guises and Bourbons, deadly animosity between, - - 430 

Hamilton's views of the Federal Constitution, - - 82 

Hartford Convention, - - - - 473 

Hartford convention censures the repeal of direct taxes, - 402 

Hartford convention, extract from an address to, - - 424 

Henry, John, ill requited by the British, - - 456 

Henry, John, extravagant bonus given to, - - 456 

Henry, John, statement of the mission of, - - 143 

Henry, John, letters from, - - - I44, 145 

Hillhouse, Mr. invites to insuiTection, - ^ 143 

Horizon, atrocious case of the, - - 117, 130 

Horizon^ letter respecting the capture of the, - - I17 

Imbecility of the government, reproaches of the, - - 220 

Import duties, - - _ . 477 

Impressment, . - - . . 495 

Impressment, resolution of the senate of the United States, against, 106 

Impressment on board the Baltimore, vessel of the U. S. - 412 

Impressment of American seamen, reflections on, - 181, 2, 3, 4 

Impressment of American seamen, various views of, - 180—199 

Ingratitude of the United States, - . _ 49 

In-surrection and ci^ il war, easily excited, difficult to suppress, - 327 

Instructions of Mr. Madison to Mr. Monroe, - - 181 

Instructions from Timothy Pickering, Esq. to Rufus King, Esq. 185, 186 

Ireland and Irishmen, strong federal ti'ibute to, - - 320 

Ireland and Irishmen, elegant defence of, « . « 320 

Irish and Frenchmen, objects of jealousy, - - 31o 



INDEX. SOS 

Irishmen in Pennsylvania line, sufferings and hardships of, - 316 

Irishmen, zealous in their support of the government, - 319 

Izard, departure of from Plattsburg, higlily injudicious, - 79 

Jackson, Francis James, Esq. extract of a letter from, - ' 248 

Jackson, General, exploits of, - - - - 48 

Jacobin and Jacobinism, definition of, - - 312 

Jay's Treaty, factious opposition to, - - " - 52 

Jefferson, Thomas, malignant abuse of, - - 167 

Jews, deplorable and factious state of the, - - - 13 

Jury Trial, fact respecting, - - - , 479 

King, Rufus, Esq. vote of thanks to him on the classification bill, 382 

King, Cyrus, speech of, on the classification bill, - - 364 

King, Rufus, conduct of, respecting impressment, - 206 

Knox, General, his plan for classification of the Militia, - - 380 

Ladd, Eliplialet, deposition of, - _ - - 195 

Legislature of Ohio, their declaration respecting the war, - 241 

Letter from the Secretary of State to Admiral Warren, - 61 

Letter from Mr. Russel, to Lord Castlereagh, - - 61 

Letter of John Quincy Adams, Esq. to Harrison G. Otis, Esq. - 182 

Letter from Thos. Jefferson, secretary of state, to Rufus Iving, Esq. 184 

Letter from Rufus King, Esq. to Timothy Pickering, - 186, 188 

Letter from Silas Talbot, to Timothy Pickering, Esq. - - 187 

Letter from Timothy Pickering, s^retary of state, to Silas Talbot, 188 

Letter from John Marshall, secretary of state, to Rufus King, - 191 

Letter from T. Pickering, secretary of state, to president Adams, - 193 

Letter from Benjamin Stoddart, Esq. secretary of the navy, to do. - 193 

Letter from Oliver Wolcott, Esq. to do. - - 193 

Letter from James M'Henry, Esq. secretary at war, to do. - 194 

Letter from Commodore Rodgers, - - - 201 

Letter from Commodore Porter to the author of the Olive Branch, 201 

Letter from John Nichols, - - - . 202 

Letter from John Davis, of Abel, ... 203 

Letter from Commodore Decatur to the secretary of the navy, - 204 

Letter from Captain Capel to Commodore Decatur, - - 204 

Letter from Commodore Decatur to Captain Capel, - - 205 

Liberality and forbearance of the United States, - - 107 

Licentiousness of the Press, instances of, -. - - 431 

Liston's, Mr. projet of a convention respecting deserters - 193 

Liverpool, Lord, letter of, respecting John Henry, - - 156, 157 

Lloyd; James, Esq. extract from a speech of, - - 242 

Lloyd, James, Esq. extract of a letter from, - - 250 

Lloyd, James, his opinion of the Orders in Council, - 242 

Loans, ruinous dependence upon, - - - 80 

Loans to government, treasonable efforts to prevent the success of, 285 

Loans, advertisements of Boston brokers, respecting, - r 291 

Lyon, Matthew, severe case of, - - - 51 

Machiavelian advice of John Heiuy, ... 150 

Madison, James, administration of, - - - 460 

Mai-yland representation, unequal, unjust, and oppressive, - 388 
Massachusetts degraded by faction, 302 — compai-ed with Tennessee, 

303 — invaded without resistance, - - 503 

Massachusetts has a representative of her black population, - 350 

Massachusetts, factious and turbulent spirit of, - - 284 

Massachusetts, representation in, vei-y ill ai-ranged, - - 387 

Members of the house of representatives of the United States, - 353 

Merchants, character of, by Edmund Burke, - - 101 

Merchants utterly fail to redeem their pledge, - -"* 102 

Merchants misei-ably mistake their true policy and interests, - 104 

Mercantile meetings to remonstrate against Britisli depredation, - 87 

Merit unrewarded, - - - - 482 

Milan Decree, December 17, 1807 - - - 120 

Milan decree, atrocious wickedness of the, - - . 131 



504 INDEX. 

Miller, Mr. Speech of on the classification bill, - . 364 
Militia, extracts frOm state constitutions respectmg'the, - 358 
Militia, extracts from state laws respecting the, - - 360 
Mll'tia, extracts from the letters of Gen. Washington on the subject of, 369 
Militia defence, examination of its efficiency, - - 367 
Militia service, right of society to coerce, - - 358 
Militia laws of various states, extracts from, - - - 360,361 
Militia drafts, oppressive, unequal, and unjust, • - 366 
Militia defence, inelhclency of, 368 — Gen. Washington's denuncia- 
tions of, - - - - - 369, 370 
Minor, col. report of, - - - - ^ 76 
^Imoiity, inexplicable conduct of the, - - ' - 224 
Mone3', "the sinews of war, ... 285 
Monroe s Treaty, rejection of, _ - . 469 
Monroe and Pi nkney, extract of letter from, - - 87 
Monroe and Plnkney's treaty rejected by Mr. Jefferson, - 53, 469 
Morals, horrible depravation of, - - - 293 
y Morse, Rev. Jedldiah, extracts from a political sermon of, - ^ 393 
Muster books of Moselle and Sappho, . . , 201 
National reflections, highly imjust, ... 432 
Na%y, democratic opposition to, ... 47 
National debt of the United States, tables of the, - - 401 
Newspaper statements, erroneous, ... 222 
Neglect of public opinion, ruinous consequences of, - '70 
Newhavcn Mercantile Memorial, extracts from, - . 95 
Newspaper misrepresentation, ruinous consequences of, - 220, 221 
Newburyport Mercantde Memorial, extracts from, - - 96 
Newburyport threatens to resist the government '* even unto blood," 100 
New Orleans, remarks on the occlusion of, - 231 
Newspaper denunciations of subscribers to government loans, - 289 
New York Mercantile Memorial, extracts from, - 89 
New York Memorial, recommending an embargo - ' 401 
Nominations, improvement in, - - - 461 
Non-intercourse reprobated by democrats, 57 — and by federalists 161 
Non-importation law, tenor of, - - - 107 
Non-intercourse law, view of the, ... 160 
Northern Grievances, extracts from, ... 41, 42 
Note of the British Commissioners, appended to Monroe's treaty, 54 
O'Brien, Barnard, impressed seaman, certificate respecting, - 204 
Op])osition to the government, ruinous consequences of the, - 311 
Orders in Council, and Decrees, resolution respecting the - 246 
Ordei'S in Coimril, evidence respecting the operation of the - 334, 335 
OrderinCouncil, Nov. 1793, 85— Nov. 11, 1807, - - 117 
Orders in Coumll, denunciation of, by James Lloyd, 242 — by James 

A.Bayard, 243— byH. G. Otis, - " - - 245 

Orders in Coimcil, 1793, ruinous consequences of, - 85 
Orders in Council, Nov. 11, 1807,117— Nov. 25,1807, 120— defended 

by Americans, .... 122 

Orders in Council required to be resisted, - - 329 
Orders in Council, inquiry into the effects of the, 333 — testimony against, 334 

Osgood, Hev. David, extracts from the political sermons of, - 307, 393 

Otis, Harrison Gray, Esq. extract of a letter from, - - 245 

Outi-ages, succession of, perpetrated on this country by the British, 3'50 

Pacific nit asurt's defeated by mercantile opposition, - - 102 

•^ Parsh, llev. Elijah, extracts from his political sermons, ' /^ 309,39^ 

Parliament'iry proceediii5;,s in England, - - - 68 

Party and faction the barie of republics, _ = 37 

Paily writers, decejitious conduct of, - - - 45 

Party men, tliorough-going, rarely honest politicians, - 13 

Parties change naiTies and principles, . . = 511 

Patriotic proceedings, .statement of, - - - 141 

Peace party, ruinous consequences of their exertions, i' - 312 



UTOEX. 505 

Peace party, composed of warlike materials, - - - - 230 

Peletier, prosecuted for a libel on Bonaparte, ... 435 

J<^ Pelham's Essays, extracts from, - - - - ' /\ ^^^ 

Pennsylvania line, sufferings and heroism of, - •• • ' 316 

Perceval, Spencer, assassination of, - - - - - 339 

Perry, consequences of his victory, - - - - 48 

Philadelphia Mercantile Memorial, extracts from, - - - 91 

Philadelphia, citizens of, as religious as those of Boston, - - 259 

Philadelphia, ingratitude of, - - - - - - 316 

Pickering, Mr. Timothy, vote of, against British depredations, 106 — 

against impressment, - - - - - -106 

Pickering, T. wonderful contrast of the opinions of, - - 133 

Pinkney, Wm. character of, - - - - - - 339 

Political writers, partiality of, - - - - - 45 

X Political sermons, extracts from, . - - . N(f 307> 308 

Popular delusion, influence of, - - - - - 37 

Popular delusion, extraordinary instance of, - - - - 287 

Populationof the United States, progress of the, - - 404 

Plumer, governor, extract from his speech 1812, - - 240 

Proclamation inviting to a violation of the embargo, - - 135 

President's proclamation restoring intercourse with Great Britain, 165 

Population of the United States, tables of the progress of the, - 404 

Pickering, Mr. Timothy, letters of, respecting impressment, - 1^, 190 

Pittsburg, Insurrection at, ----- - 453 

Proclamation, interdictingour ports to British vessels of war, - 108 

Power of congress over the militia, inquiry into the, - - 363 

Preparations, neglect of, ...... 64 

Preparations for war, ..... 217,218,219 

" President Madison to Elba," a favourite idea with many, - . 11 

Pretensions of Great Britain exposed by Boston merchants, - 88 

Pretensions of England, extravagant, - - - - 174 

Printer at Reading scourged by a band of Philadelphia volunteers, 223 

Proceedings of congress, imbecility and folly of, - - - 67, 68 . 

Prosperity of the United States, view of, - - - 396,398,407 

Prophets, ......... 473 

Pulpit politics, a hideous abomination, . - - ^/ 41, 305, to 310 

Quincey, Josiah, inexplicable and inconsistent conduct of, - - 227 

Quincey, Josiah, seditious speech of, - - -v . 348 

Randolph, John, resolutions of, in favour of Mr. Madison, " - - 169 

Repeal of orders in council, extract from the, ... 62 

Repeal of orders in council, very equivocal, - - - - 62 

Report of Timothy Pickering, Esq. secretary of state, to congress, 195 

Reproaches by the minority of Congress against the majority, - 22(j 

Republics, history of, not duly studied by tlie democrats, . 47 

Resolution of the senate U. States against the rule of 1756, - - 106 

Resolutions of the Federal Republicans of New York, - - 199 

Resolution of the town of Gloucester respecting the embargo, 141 — of 

Bath, ibid; of the town of Boston, ibid; of the town of Topsfield, 

142 — of the town of Augusta, ..... 142 

Resolutions of the revolutionary congress, respecting intercourse with 

the enemy, - - - - - - - 297 

Retaliation, a mere pretence on the part of England, - - 242, 243 

Revenues of the United States, increase of the, - - 400,491 

Richard Carter, deposition of, - - - - --195 

Road to Ruin, delusion and misrepresentation of, - - 304 

Rule of 1756, utterly abandoned by the British government, 86 — a mere 

pretext to cover predatory seizures, - - - - 95 

Russian mediation, misrepresentation respecting, ... 72 

Ryland, H. W. his letters to John Henry, . - 144, 154, 157 

Salem Mercantile Memorial, extracts from, ... 95 

Secretary of suite's letters to Hon. D. M.Erskine, - - 163,164 



50.6 INDEX. 

Sedition law, exU'act from, . . . , .50 

Sedition, ....... 473 

Senate of New Hampshire, extract from the reply of, - . 394 

Senate of Massachusetts, their declaration respecting the war, - 240 

Senate of Maryland, their declaration respecting the war, - - 241 

Senate and house of representatives of Massachusetts, their praise of 

Mr. Madison, .....-- lYQ 

Senatorial representation, iniquitous arrangement of, - - 384, 385 

Separation of the states, project for a, in 1796, - - 255, 256, 257 

Separationof the states, steadily advocated in Boston, - - 56 

Septembrization perpetrated by a small portion of the mob of Pains, 433 

Sniugghng carried to great excess in Boston, - - 292, 293 

Sober character of the Americans no security against civil war, - 43 

X. Southern states, unfavourable anticipations respecting, belied by events, 411 
\^ Southern states, shameful libel against the, - - . . 255 

Specie, accumulation of in Boston, .... 294 

■ Specie, oppressive drafts for, on middle and southern states, ■■ 295 

Speech of Henry Brougham, Esq. extract from a, - * 332 

Stansbury, general, i-eport of, - - - - - - 76 

Statement of apphcations on the subject of impressment, to the British 

government, ...... 215, 251 

Thayer, Hiram, hard case of - - - - - 204 

Thompson Richard, impressed seaman, sufferings of, - - 201 

Tonnage of the United States, view of, - - 274,403 

Transit duties, tariff of, payable by American vessels, - - - 121 

Transit duties, 121 — F. J. Jackson's view of the payment of, - 248 

United States, glorious prospects of, 40 — remarks upon, - - 41 

United States, not sufficiently munificent towards great merit, . 48 

United States, view of the prosperity of, - - - - 14,396 

Van Ness, gen. report of, to a committee of congress, - - 75 

Virginia representation, unequal, unjust, and oppressive, - - 389 

War, constant cause of with England, .... 53 

War, violently opposed by the minority, - - - 228, 229, 230 

War proceedings in congress, details of the, - - 224 

War with England inevitable but by sacrifice of national character, 229 

War, repeated clamour for, ..... 230,231 

AVar, inquiry into the justice of, - - - - - 236 

War proceedings in congress — yeas and nays, ... 224 

War, view of the, - - - - - - ■ 455 

War, opposition to the, ...... 479 

Washington, general, his great merits and services, - - 405 

Wasliington, capture of, documents respecting, - - 75,76,77 

Washington Benevolent Societies, - - - - - 481 

Washington, libels against, - ... 467 

Wealthy men lending their aid to overturn the government, - 12 

WeUington, lord, immensely rewarded, - - - 49 

Western Insurrection, ..... . 453 

Whitby, captain, honourably acquitted for the murder of Captain Pearce, 200 
Wilkinson and Hampton, violent enemies, - - - - 67 

Winder's orders to destroy Fort Washington, ... 78 

Wolcott, O. objections to Mr. Liston's projet respecting deserters . 193 
Yeas and Nays on various questions regarding war, - - 224 



THE END. 












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